ITCSB  LIBRARY 


The  People's   Course   at    P»iue  Hall. 

Dr.  H._F.  Gardner' 


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'HO 


THE  PROBLEM 


LIFE  AND  IMMOETALITY. 


AN  INQUIRY  INTO  THE 


MAN. 


A  LECTURE  DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  BOSTON  YOUNG 

MEN'S  CHRIST! AX  UNION,  JAN.  3,  1861;  WITH 

RECENT  ADDITIONS. 


BY  LORING  MOODY. 


SECOND  EDITION. 


BOSTON : 

& 
MONTGOMERY  PLACE. 

1873. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872, 

BY  LORING  MOODY, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Boston  ! 
Stereotyped  and  Printed  by  Rand,  Avery,  &>  Co. 


INTRODUCTION. 


ALTHOUGH  the  part  of  this  book  relating  to  the 
origin  and  composition  of  man  has  been  under  consid- 
eration during  more  than  twenty  years,  it  was  not  until 
after  the  publication  of  Mr.  Darwin's  speculations  on 
the  "  Origin  of  Species,"  and  the  "  Descent  of  Man," 
that  the  ideas  herein  contained  were  reduced  to  writ- 
ing. 

The  part  containing  the  proofs  and  illustrations  of 
immortality  was  written  as  a  lecture  more  than  twelve 
years  ago.  And  although  no  subject  of  such  deep  and 
abiding  interest  has  reached,  or  even  approximated,  the 
stage  of  final  settlement,  and  though  none  has  been 
more  ably  and  earnestly  discussed  during  these  years 
than  this,  I  have  as  yet  seen  no  reason  to  change  my 
views  on  any  of  the  points  here  presented. 

It  was  my  original  purpose  to  leave  the  problem  of 
God,  or  '•  First  Cause,"  as  already  settled  affirmatively. 
Thru  I  remembered  that  the  sacred  books  of  Jews, 
Brahmins,  Christians,  Mohammedans,  are  no  longer  of 
binding  authority  with  the  deepest  thinkers.  And  it  is 
bandied  about  among  half-thinking  materialists,  that 
"  the  argument  from  design  is  exploded,"  merely 
because  Paley  overdrew  a  little  in  some  of  his  illustra- 
tions from  natural  history. 

As  a  caterpillar  gnaws  away  upon  coarse  leaves,  and 

3 


4  Introduction. 

a  butterfly  comes  fluttering  over,  and  fans  him  with  his 
wings,  and  the  poor  larva  knows  him  not,  and  does  not 
distinguish  him  from  the  leaves  upon  which  he  is  feecl- 
ing ;  so  in  man's  crude,  immature,  bodily,  or  larva  state 
of  being,  the  highest  spiritual  truths  meet  him  under  in- 
numerable forms,  at  every  step  and  turn  in  life ;  and  he 
does  not  distinguish  them  from  the  gross  materials  by 
which  he  is  surrounded.  Hence  he  needs  to  have  these 
truths  pressed  upon  him,  through  every  possible  illustra- 
tion. 

So  I  have  attempted  further  proofs  of  God,  in  an 
argument  from  facts.  And,  if  I  have  added  no  new 
reasons,  I  have  at  least  varied  the  forms  of  statement, 
and  strengthened  the  old  ones. 

The  argument  from  design  is  good,  and  always  will 
be  good,  until  it  shall  be  proved  that  outward  forms  of 
art  precede  the  ideas  which  they  represent,  and  that 
all  of  man's  plans  and  designs  are  not  continued  and 
extended  forms  of  the  plans  and  designs  of  that  same 
wisdom  and  power  which  first  planned  and  designed 
him. 

The  work  has  been  prepared  under  great  difficulties, 
which  none  but  the  writer  can  possibly  understand. 
While,  therefore,  I  admit  that  both  the  style  and 
arrangement  may  be  open  to  objections,  I  believe  its 
positions  and  arguments  will  stand  the  "  heaviest  artil- 
lery "  of  criticism.  If,  however,  they  can  be  overthrown, 
because  false  and  untenable,  I  shall  gladly  see  them 
converted  into  a  muck-heap,  as  nutriment  for  a  fresher, 
stronger,  and  higher  outcrop  of  truth. 

L.  M. 
BOSTON,  April,  1872. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE. 


"  So  has  it  been  from  the  beginning  :  so  will  it  be 
to  the  end.  Generation  after  generation  takes  to 
itself  the  form  of  a  body,  and,  forth  issuing  from 
Cimmerian  night,  on  Heaven's  mission  appears. 
What  force  and  fire  is  in  each,  he  expends.  One 
grinding  in  the  mill  of  industry ;  one,  hunter-like, 
climbing  the  giddy  Alpine  heights  of  science  ;  one 
madly  dashed  in  pieces  on  the  rocks  of  strife,  in 
war  with  his  fellows  :  and  then  the  heaven-sent 
is  recalled  ;  his  earthly  vesture  falls  away,  and  soon, 
even  to  sense,  becomes  a  vanished  shadow.  Thus, 
like  some  wild-flaming,  wild-thundering  train  of 
heaven's  artillery,  does  this  mysterious  MANKIXD 
thunder  and  flame,  in  long-drawn,  quick-succeeding 
grandeur,  through  the  unknown  deep. 

"  Thus,  like  a  God-created,  fh-e-breathing  spirit- 
host,  we  emerge  from  the  inane,  haste  stormfully 
across  the  astonished  earth,  then  plunge  again 


6  The  Problem  of  Life 

into  the  inane.  Earth's  mountains  are  levelled, 
and  her  seas  filled  up  in  our  passage.  Can  the 
earth,  which  is  dead  and  a  vision,  resist  spirits, 
which  have  reality  and  are  alive  ?  On  the  hardest 
adamant  some  footprint  of  us  is  stamped  in.  The 
last  rear  of  the  host  shall  read  traces  of  the 
earliest  van.  But  whence  ?  0  Heaven  !  whither  ? 
Sense  knows  not :  faith  knows  not ;  only  that  it 
is  through  mystery  to  mystery,  from  God  and  to 
God. 

'  We  are  such  stuff 
As  dreams  are  made  of;  and  our  little  life 

Is  rounded  with  a  sleep.'  " 

Sartor  Resartus. 

The  ahove  remarkable  passages  are  from  one  of 
the  deepest  and  most  brilliant  thinkers  of  this  or 
any  age.  Grand,  triumphant,  hopeful,  despairing, 
yet  giving  no  clew  by  which  to  unravel  the  strange 
marvel  of  our  own  being  ;  but  seem  more  like  the 
blind  struggles  of  a  strong  soul  with  some  vast 
problem,  or  the  efforts,  of  a  mighty  giant  to  turn 
over  bodily  some  great  mountain,  and  thus  reveal 
its  secrets,  than  the  patient,  mining  philosopher, 
who  searches  for  results  through  long-continued  and 
toilsome  investigations. 

And  yet  these  wild  and  almost  bewildering  sen- 
tences relate  wholly  to  the  questions  of  man's  ori- 
gin, relations,  and  destiny.  Whence  are  we  ? 
what  are  we  ?  and  whither  do  we  go  ?  Ques- 


And  Immortality.  J 

tions  which  have  brought  out  for  their  solu- 
tion the  mightiest  efforts  of  the  wisest  and  mighti- 
est thinkers  of  all  ages.  And  while  various  con- 
flicting theories  have  been  proposed,  and  defended, 
with  all  the  skill  and  ingenuity  which .  the  great 
masters  of  reason  and  rhetoric  could  summon  to 
their  aid,  in  one  long-continued  warfare,  axe  -and 
stake,  rack  and  dungeon,  have  added  the  weight  of 
their  terrible  logic  to  different  sides  of  the  contest 
in  turn. 

Yet  amid  the  onset  and  encounter  of  the  fierce 
debate,  beneath  the  swiftly-descending  edge  of  the 
flashing  steel  upon  the  quivering  neck,  in  the  fiery 
baptism  of  the  crackling  flames,  while  under  the 
crudest  tortures  of  rack  or  wheel,  or  wasting  away 
in  the  death-dumps  of  slimy  and  pestilent  dungeons, 
Faith  alone,  which  links  the  soul  to  'the  Infinite, 
has  given  the  only  answer  yet  accorded  to  our  hun- 
gry and  insatiable  longings,  "  Through  mystery 
to  mystery,  from -God,  and  to  God." 

But  Reason,  to  whose  tribunals  the  inspirations 
of  Faith  are  summoned,  and  at  whose  bar  her  tes- 
timonies and  pleadings  are  heard,  has  never  yet 
found  that  evidence  of  man's  inherent  immortality, 
growing  out  of  his  relations  to  the  Infinite  life, 
which,  based  on  science,  and  the  philosophy  and 
fitness  of  things,  shall  compose  it  to  that  perfect 
rest  which  springs  alone  from  the  full  agreement 
of  an  enlightened  understanding  with  the  inspira- 


8  The  Problem  of  Life 

tions  of  simple  faith.  And  now  Faith  itself  must 
yield  to  demonstrative  knowledge.  For  the  re- 
searches of  scientists  ,and  philosophers  are  fast 
undermining  the  foundations  of  the  religious  and 
theological  structures  of  the  past,  and  leaving 
nothing  but  vacancy  and  waste  behind  them  ; 
while  the  Spiritualists  are  building  up  a  system 
of  enduring,  natural  religious  truth,  because 
founded  on  reason,  philosophy,  and  the  fitness  of 
things. 

The  problem  of  human  life  —  of  man's  origin, 
relations  to  the  universe,  the  uses  of  the  trials  and 
conflicts  of  this  life,  and  his  future  destiny  —  has 
hitherto  received  no  solution  which  has  proved  sat- 
isfactory, and  so  tranquillizing  to  the  reason  and 
understanding.  And  yet  the  human  soul  has  for- 
ever longed,  and  still  longs,  for  some  clear  and 
simple  explanation  of  the  mysteries  of  its  own  be- 
ing, so  freed  from  the  high-sounding  phrases  and 
obscure  methods  of  the  ^metaphysicians  as  to  be 
easily  understood  by  the  commonest  minds.  And 
so  I  shall  present  the  subject  through  simple,  direct, 
and  plain  forms  of  speech,  and  by  the  most  com- 
mon and  easily-understood  illustrations.  And  we 
shall  not  have  to  seek  far  for  the  means  of  doing 
this.  For,  although  the  commonest  things  about  us 
are  full  of  mystery,  they  may  help  us  to  explain 
the  grand  mystery.  All  around  is  one  vast  sea  of 
life,  revealing  itself  through  numberless  forms. 


And  Immortality.  9 

The  humblest  grass-blade  under  our  feet,  the  sweet- 
scented  flower  at  our  side,  each  shrub  and  tree,  the 
mighty  elephant  which  shakes  the  earth  with  his 
tread,  the  earth  itself,  with  man  the  lord  of  all,  — 
are  but  revelations  of  unseen  forces,  visions  of 
unknown  power. 

These  bodies  of  ours  are  but  dust  and  shadows, 
gathered  round  our  conscious  selves,  wherein  we 
live,  and  whereby,  as  with  implements  and  tools, 
through  some  moments  or  years,  we  work,  eat,  and 
sleep,  to  keep  these  same  bodies  in  repair,  that 
they  may  work  and  eat  more ;  and  so  the  living, 
thinking  me  within  may  learn  and  know  more. 

How  wonderful,  that  the  life  and  mind,  which\ 
alone  make  up  the  proper  selfhood  of  every  one  of    \ 
us,  and  which  no  outward  sense  can  cognize,  should 
be  wrought  into  such  complete  working  relations    j 
with  outward,  or  the  grosser  forms  of  matter,  as  / 
to  be  regarded  by  many  as  only  the  result  and  pro-/ 
duct  of  matter !     So  let  us,  with  the  eye  of  reason, 
look  the  mystery  in  the  face,  and  see  if,  with  the 
help  of  common  sense  and  common  philosophy,  it 
be  in  any  way,  or  to  any  extent,  solvable. 

Outward  sense  cannot  cognize  mind,  except 
through  signs  ;  and  these  signs  have  naturally  led 
to  the  mistakes  above  stated.  We  see  the  plant 
unfold  from  the  seed,  and  grow  up  to  maturity ; 
the  chick  burst  the  shell,  and  come  forth,  a  living, 
sensational  being ;  and  the  life  which  animates 


to  The  Problem  of  Life 

these  forms  is  supposed  by  many  to  be  the  result 
of  their  organizing  processes :  but  I  shall  try  to 
demonstrate,  that  the  -  organisms  are  only  the 
product  of  vital  force,  which,  from  the  midst  of 
this  vast  ocean  of  life,  and  under  the  guidance 
of  Infinite  wisdom,  is  forever  clothing  definite 
ideas  in  outward  forms;  these  forms  being  only 
the  symbols,  or  visible  manifestations,  of  spiritual 
force~,  which  is  the  only  real  power  and  substance 
in  the  case ;  as  the  forms  disintegrate  and  fade 
away  whenever  the  animating  force  is  withdrawn, 
while  the  living  ideas  which  they  clothed  remain, 
and  are  imperishable. 

So,  when  the  materialist  asks  if  I  ever  saw  mind 
separate  from  organized  matter,  I  can  truly  say, 
I  never  did.  But  when  he  further  asks,  if  I  do 
not  know  that  when  the  body  is  destroyed  the 
mind  is  destroyed  with  it,  I  can  as  truly  say,  I 
do  not.  But  I  do  know,  and  shall  attempt  to 
prove  further  on,  just  the  contrary.  But  I  may 
say,  here  and  now,  that  I  never  saw  mind  sepa- 
rate from  organized  matter ;  and,  what  is  more,  I 
never  saw  mind  at  all.  On  all  sides,  and  every- 
where, I  see  the  signs  of  mind,  but  can  see,  feel, 
or  hear  nothing  more. 

Let  us  use  for  an  illustration  some  building  or 
hall.  We  all  know  that  this  hall,  with  all  its 
finish  and  fixtures,  is  only  the  outward  shape 
of  the  architect's  ideas.  He  thought  it  all  out 


And  Immortality.  II 

first,  —  so  long,  so  wide,  so  high,  such  a  finish,  — 
and  then  fashioned  his  thought  into  wood  and  stone 
and  brick  ,and  mortar,  as  the  case  may  he,  fol- 
lowing out  its  minutes.t  details.  And  there  are 
the  people  inside  of  it,  - —  the  thought  and  the 
outward  shape  of  it :  which  is  the  thought  em- 
bodied, or  clothed  in  a  material  form. 

Now,  the  mind  or  thought  of  the  architect  is 
not  the  product  of  the  hall,  as  everybody  knows. 
Nor  is  the  life  of  the  chicken  the  product  of  its 
body.  As  the  mind  of  the  chicken  produced  its 
body ;  so  the  mind  of  the  architect  produced  the 
hall,  and  hence  is  first  and  greatest.  And  yet 
who  ever  saw  the  architect's  thought  ?  heard  or 
handled  it  ?  And  yet  who  will  say,  after  due  re- 
flection, that  the  invisible  thought  which  creates 
is  not  more  substantive,  real,  and  enduring  than 
the  thing  created  by  it  ?  This  building  shall 
crumble  into  ruins,  and  its  materials  exhale  in 
gases;  yet  not  one  particle  of  its  components 
shall  be  lost,  or  their  essential  properties  destroyed. 
Every  one  of  them  shall  exist  to  eternity,  as  they 
have  existed  from  eternity.  Is  the  living,  creative 
thought  more  destructible  than  this  dead,  inert 
matter  ?  _ 

This  hall  is  only  the  garment  of  the  builder's 
thought,  as  our  bodies  are  but  the  clothing  of  our- 
selves ;  and  both  the  hall  and  body  are  composed 
essentially  of  the  same  materials.  Now,  as  the 


12  The  Problem  of  Life 

builder's  thought  is  clothed  and  manifested  in  this 
hall,  and  as  the  ruin  of  this  hall  will  not  destroy 
or  even  mar  one  form  or  detail  of  the  huilder's 
thought,  so  we  are  clothed,  live,  and  are  mani- 
fested, in  our  bodies;  and  the  decay  of  our  bodies 
will  not  injure  one  attribute  of  ourselves. 

We  must  give  more  attention  and  greater 
thoughtfulness  to  the  every-day  phenomena  of  life, 
in  order  to  gain  more  knowledge  upon  this  deeply- 
interesting  subject. 

I  once  asked  a  professedly  scientific  lecturer, 
who  was  attempting  to  disprove  the  affirmations  of 
Spiritualism,  if  he  believed  in  the  immortality  of 
the  soul.  "  Science  knows  nothing  of  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,"  was  his  quick  and  flippant 
answer.  Now,  it  is  not  science,  but  her  pretend- 
ing "professors,"  who  are  ignorant  on  this  sub- 
ject; for  science  is  as  boundless  as  infinity 
itself.  But  puffed  pretenders,  having  set  foot 
upon  the  steps  leading  to  some  of  her  innumerable 
portals,  begin  to  strut  and  swagger,  and  to  tell 
what  she  knows  and  what  she  does  not.  Let  us 
,  all  cease  our  boasting,  and  reverently  learn  that 
more  of  her  wonders  and  mysteries  may  be  re- 
vealed and  explained  to  us,  as  we  know  but  little, 
comparatively,  of  what  surrounds  us ;  for  the 
atmosphere  contains,  and  transmits  through  it, 
essences  too  subtle  for  our  analysis.  We  cannot 
take  them  up  with  forceps,  dissolve  them  in  cruci- 


And  Immortality.  13 

ble,  or  discover  them  with  microscope.  They  are 
altogether  too  fine  for  our  clumsy  handling. 

In  dealing  with  material  substances,  we  em- 
ploy microscopes,  telescopes,  spectrums,  retorts, 
crucibles,  lamps,  —  such  means  and  appliances  as 
shall  subject  them  to  the  tests  of  one  or  more  of 
our  outward  senses.  'But,  in  dealing  with  spir- 
itual substances,  we  must  liberate  ourselves  from 
all  bondage  to  mere  mechanical  appliances :  as 
we  can  subject  them  only  to  the  tests  of  our  spir- 
itual senses.  So  when  we  enter  the  field  of  scien- 
tific spiritual  inquiry,  crucibles,  retorts  —  the 
paraphernalia  of  material  science,  —  are  of  but 
little  service,  as  we  must  adapt  our  methods  to  our 
subject,  always  ;  and  these  instruments  cannot 
handle  and  analyze  mind,  for  mind  is  not  sub- 
jected to  chemistry,  but  chemistry  is  a  subject  of 
mind,  which  is  the  power  that  puts  material 
things,  and  even  its  own  processes,  under  its  own 
analyses. 

Hence,  the  great  difficulty  with  our  wisest 
philosophers  and  scientists  in  dealing  with  spirit- 
ual problems  lies  in  this,  that  they  have  not  pushed 
their  researches  beyond  the  regions  of  external 
sense.  Nor  have  they  more  than  very  partially 
explored  these  regions.  Confining  their  investi- 
gations wholly  to  the  material,  they  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  spiritual  and  unseen  are 
not  only  unknown,  but  unknowable.  And  yet 


14  The  Problem  of  Life 

outward  sense  instructs  us  largely  in  those  things 
which  lie  beyond  its  own  limits.  And  a  little  ex- 
amination will  show  us,  that  all  art,  science, 
law,  are  invisible  and  insensible ;  and  are  known 
to  us  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  through  their  relations 
to  the  visible  and  sensible  :  that  in  all  things, 
the  unseen  and  spiritual  governs  and  controls 
the  seen  and  material. 

With  the  outward  eye  we  see  the  signs  of 
numbers,  1,  2,  3,  &c.  Now,  these  signs  represent 
ideas  which  stand  in  fixed  and  exact  relations  to 
each  other,  and  which,  like  all  ideas,  are  wholly 
invisible ;  and  yet  they  are  imperishable,  and  so 
eternal.  The  "  science  of  numbers,"  as  a  science, 
is  altogether  unseen ;  and  we  make  visible  signs 
of  its  relations  to  outward  things,  to  aid  us  in  the 
affairs  of  outward  life. 

So  of  measurement.  A  carpenter's  rule  is  only 
an  outward  sign  of  an  idea,  of  so  much  length  in 
space.  Our  minds  are  full  of  limitations  and 
definitions.  We  think,  How  long  shall  it  be  ? 
how  high  ?  how  wide  ?  and  make  a  material 
fixed  scale  of  measurement  to  represent  these  ideas 
of  length,  breadth,  &c.  And  so  of  the  whole  cir- 
cle of  sciences  ;  including  the  whole  body  of  laws 
and  statutes,  both  of  nature  and  man. 

The  statute-books  only  contain  in  their  letters, 
sections,  and  chapters,  signs  of  the  ideas  which 
legislators  have  established  for  the  government  of 


And  Immortality.  15 

States  and  nations.  And  yet  these  ideas  are  wholly 
spiritual,  and  are  never,  of  themselves,  present  to 
any  outward  sense.  As  these  ideas  are  indestruc- 
tible and  eternal,  is  the  living  niind  from  which 
they  emanate,  which  studies,  analyzes,  and  com- 
prehends them,  any  less  so  ? 

OP    GOD,    OR   FIRST    CAUSE. 

Before  proceeding  farther  in  our  inquiry,  it 
may  be  well,  perhaps  almost  essential,  to  look  a 
little  into  the  operations  of  Nature,  and  see  if  we 
can  find  some  broad,  comprehensive  principle  of 
Infinite  intelligence  operating  through  fixed  and 
determinate  laws,  upon  which  we  may  base  our 
arguments  and  conclusions;  rather  than  drift 
about  in  the  broad  sea  of  mere  opinion,  uncer- 
tain of  our  bearings  and  relations.  For,  in  this 
inquiry,  we  wish  to  find  out  whether  the  orderly 
and  methodical  processes  of  Nature  are  carried  on 
under  the  guidance  of  a  superintending  intelli- 
gence, with  at  least  one  clear  and  well-defined 
purpose,  —  the  formation  of  man,  —  or  are  only 
the  results  of  blind  force. 

If  we  shall  find  such  intelligence,  with  the  evi- 
dences of  purpose,  in  its  various  manifestations, 
this  intelligence  may  stand  as  God,  or  First  Cause, 
to  our  finite  minds.  I  know  there  are  some  who 
say  there  is  no  "  first  cause."  Then  there  is  no 


1 6  The  Problem  of  Life 

cause,  and  all  the  phenomena  of  the  universe  are 
without  cause ;  which  is  absurd. 

In  seeking  for  a  fiiist  cause,  the  atheist  rejects 
the  idea  of  God ;  and  so  denies,  as  I  understand 
him,  an  overruling  intelligence,  working  in 
and  through  the  operations  of  the  universe. 
The  idea  of  God  is  associated  with  supreme 
wisdom  and  power;  which  involve  supreme  life 
and  mind.  And  it  is  incomprehensible  to  the 
materialist,  or  atheist,  that  the  universe  should  be 
animated  and  governed  by  an  intelligent  soul.  So, 
to  avoid  a  difference  about  words,  let  us  substitute 
Nature  for  God  in  our  inquiry,  and  see  if  we  do 
not  come  at  last  to  the  same  thing. 

Does  Nature  reveal  God  to  the  human  under- 
standing? In  other  words,  does  she  furnish  proofs 
of  an  overruling  intelligence  working  through, 
and  presiding  over,  the  infinitely  varied  phenomena 
of  the  universe  ? 

All  thoughtful  atheists,  as  well  as  others,  agree 
that  from  nothing,  nothing  can  come.  So  far  as 
we  understand  the  operations  of  Nature,  in  all  the 
forms  of  her  creative  manifestations,  like  is  forever 
producing  and  can  only  produce  its  like ;  such 
being  the  law  of  generation,  that  the  principles  of 
any  product  must  first  be  contained  in  the  pro- 
ducing cause.  A  soil  destitute  of  the  elements 
of  vegetable  life  cannot  produce  vegetation.  Nor, 
if  only  destitute  of  the  elements  of  a  particular 
vegetable,  as  turnip,  can  turnip  grow  there. 


And  Immortality.  17 

All  the  innumerable  forms  of  life,  sensation,  and 
mind,  which  people  earth,  air,  and  sea,  are  the 
products  of  Nature.  And  Nature  as  a  whole,  like 
the  soil,  or  any  other  of  her  parts,  can  only  give 
or  furnish  what  she  has :  and  so  must  contain  in 
herself  the  entire  mental  as  well  as  physical  qual- 
ities of  all  her  products.  This  is  admitted  by  all 
in  regard  to  body.  Is  iron  in  our  blood,  lime  in. 
our  bones,  proteine  compounds  in  our  tissues,  Na- 
ture provides  them  all.  And  this  law  applies  alike 
to  mind  and  body. 

As  Nature  contains  in  her  storehouses  all  the 
elements  of  our  physical,  so  she  holds  -in  her  vast 
reservoirs  all  the  elements  of  our  spiritual  struc- 
tures. For  our  material  organisms,  Nature  pro- 
vides what  she  has  ;  and  only  that.  So  in  regard 
to  our  spiritual,  including  the  sensual.  Sight 
comes  only  from  that  which  sees  ;  feeling  from 
that  which  feels  ;  hearing  from  that  which  hears. 
Can  thought  come  from  that  which  cannot  think  ? 
reasoning  from  that  which  cannot  reason?  judg- 
ment from  that  which  cannot  judge?  To  be- 
lieve it  is  to  believe  that  something  can  come 
from  nothing;  which  materialist  and  spiritualist 
alike  hold  impossible. 

All  the  thoughts,  imaginations,  passions,  of  the 
human  soul,  and. of  all  souls;  and  all  art,  beauty, 
deformity,  crudity,  perfection,  —  are  in,  and  de- 
rived from,  Nature.  She  reveals  to  us  some  of  her 


1 8  The  Problem  of  Life 

moods,  passions,  and  humors,  in  the  varying  play 
of  the  elements.  And,  moreover,  does  the  sculp- 
tor give  us  a  fine  statue,  the  painter  a  heautiful 
picture,  Nature  had  done  infinitely  better  before 
them,  inasmuch  as  hers  are  wonderfully  organic, 
and  instinct  with  life  throughout ;  while  theirs 
are  only  dead  and  senseless  imitations. 

We  are  apt  to  deny  spiritual  attributes  to  Na- 
ture, as  a  vast  whole,  because,  in  the  infinite 
grandeur  of  her  being,  she  does  not  give  us  those 
little  signs  of  speech  and  motion  which  we  are 
accustomed  among  ourselves  to  regard  as  the  only 
proofs  of  intelligence.  And  yet  she  is  forever 
giving  signs,  more  truthful  and  impressive  than 
speech  to  those  who  are  wise  enough  to  translate 
their  meaning ;  "  For  Nature,  which  reveals  God  to 
the  wise,  hides  him  from  the  foolish." 

The  materialist  refers  all  the  phenomena  of  life 
— joy,  sorrow,  love,  hatred,  hope,  aspiration,  and 
the  rest  —  to  organization.  Organization  is  merely 
arrangement,  or  combination ;  and  the  bare  fact 
of  combination  creates  no  new  principle,  but  only 
a  new  structure,  or  compound  of  what  existed  be- 
fore. Hence  life,  mind,  and  consciousness  cannot 
be  created  by,  or  be  the  product  of,  organizations. 
If  they  are,  then  the  union  of  parts  forms  some- 
thing greater  than  the  whole  ;  which  is  absurd. 
These  principles  existed  before,  as  parts  of  l^he 
universal  life  and  consciousness ;  and  the  organi- 


And  Immortality.  19 

zation  only  serves  the  purpose  of  giving  them 
individual  life  and  consciousness.  As  the  matter  /; 
of  the  organism  always  did  exist  as  matter,  so  the 
life  and  mind  which  animate  and  govern  it  always 
did  exist  as  life  and  mind ;  and  they  have  only 
been  separated  from  the  Infinite,  and  clothed  in 
finite  organic  forms,  to  give  them,  as  before  stated, 
individualized  life.,  experience,  and  consciousness. 

Matter  cannot  exist  without  force,  or  life  and  ] 
mind,  which  are  its  soul.  And  force  is  but  the 
expression  of  this  soul  of  matter ;  which  shapes, 
fashions,  governs,  and  reveals  it  to  our  finite  con- 
sciousness, so  that  the  finite  may  know  there  is 
an  Infinite. 

Nature  is  an  organic  structure  of  infinite  extent 
and  duration.  Even  what  we  call  "  inorganic 
matter,"  as  the  rude,  heterogeneous  masses  of  rock 
piled  into  mountain  ranges,  or  pulverized  -into 
desert  sands,  are  parts  of  the  structure  of  the  earth, 
and  are  essential  to  its  wholeness.  And  this  earth  is 
but  an  infinitesimal  part  of  the  grand  structure  of 
the  universe  ;  which  is  animated  by  a  life  and  guided 
by  a  mind  which  act  with  such  unerring  precision, 
that  we  base  our  sciences  upon  the  absolute  cer- 
tainty of  her  methods  and  processes.  And  these 
methods  and  processes  of  the  Infinite  Mind  are  to 
us  hiw  ;  and  matter  does,  not  govern  law,  but  law 
governs  matter.  You  take  a  lump  of  clay,  and 
fashion  it  into  an  image.  Does  the  clay  direct  the 


2O  The  Problem  of  Life 

movements  of  your  hands,  and  give  shape  to  the 
ideal  in  your  mind  which  you  desire  to  work  out  ? 
That  is  the  end  at  which  materialism  begins. 
Spiritualism  begins  at  the  other,  the  scientific 
end.  It  looks  through  organization,  to  what  gov- 
erns and  directs  the  process. 

We  may  not  yet  comprehend  that  Infinite  and 
eternal  Nature  should  work  with  a  knowledge  and 
understanding  which  not  only  include  the  knowl- 
edge and  understanding  of  man,  but  of  all  other 
beings  of  the  universe.  Nor  can  the  being  which 
Huxley  speaks  of  as  "  a  mere  infinitesimal  ovoid 
particle,  which  finds  space  and  duration  enough 
to  multiply  into  countless  millions  in  a  body  of 
a  living  fly,"  comprehend  man. 

It  is  incomprehensible  to  us  that  Nature  should 
think,  feel,  and  know  all,  and  more  than  all,  that 
we  do.  That  she  should  plan,  devise,  and  execute 
in  any  way  as  we  do.  And  yet  we  are  only  her 
imitators.  When  we  wish  to  accomplish  any  giv- 
en work,  we  begin  with  a  mental  conception  of  it. 
The  work  really  begins  in  the  mind;  then  we  pre- 
pare our  material,  and  with  it  give  our  conception 
an  outward  form.  And  herein  we  are  only  doing 
what  Nature  has  taught  us  by  inward  instinct  and 
outward  example.  She  prepares  her  plastic  material, 
or  "protoplasm,"  as  a  "physical  basis,"  in  which 
she  clothes  and  gives  outward  form  to  her  innu- 
merable living  ideas,  from  the  molecule  up  to  man. 


And  Immortality.  21 

And  when  we  make  machines  involving  the 
nicest  mathematical  principles  and  equivalents,  and 
the  highest  laws  of  mechanics,  these  principles, 
equivalents,  and  laws,  together  with  all  the 
knowledge,  art,  or  science  ever  yet  attained,  or  to 
be  attained  hy  man,  exist  as  primary  elements  of 
Nature,  and  we  learn  them  from  her.  For  as  we 
derive  our  life  from  that  which  lives,  so  we  derive 
our  knowledge  from  that  which  knows.  And, 
furthermore,  as  the  life  of  Nature  is  infinitely 
greater,  so  is  her  knowledge  infinitely  greater 
than  ours.  Indeed,  as  man  himself  is  but  an  ex- 
pression or  manifestation  of  Nature,  all  his  inven- 
tions and  devices  are  but  continued  and  extended 
forms  of  her  expressions  or  manifestations  through 
him. 

So  when  I  refer  to  our  contrivances  or  inven- 
tions to  illustrate  the  operations  of  Nature,  I  mere- 
ly take  her  secondary  processes  through  man's 
intervention,  to  illustrate  her  primary  ones  with- 
out his  intervention. 

Nature  has  her  destructive,  as  well  as  her  con- 
structive processes ;  and  the  first  are  as  orderly 
and  methodical,  or  as  much  under  the  control  of 
law,  as  the  last.  For  the  first  are  only  preparatory 
steps  to  the  last;  and  the  convulsions  of  earth- 
quakes, tempests,  tornadoes,  the  slow  disintegra- 
tion of  rocks,  the  silent  withering  and  decay  of 
grass-blades,  the  rotting  of  logs,  the  death  and 


22  The  Problem  of  Life 

decomposition  of  our  own  bodies,  are  only  the  op- 
erations of  some  pulp-mills  in  which  she  grinds  and 
prepares  materials  for  her  wonderful  formations. 
Now,  the  material  does  not  prepare  and  fashion 
itself,  any  more  than  man  conceived  and  fashioned 
himself,  or  the  clay  fashions  itself  in  his  hands. 

Man,  with  all  his  thoughts,  passions,  and  imagi- 
nations, with  all  the  other  creatures  below  him, 
are,  as  before  stated,  the  products  of  Nature.  From 
the  boundless  storehouse  of  her  life  and  mind,  she 
endows  them  all  with  their  varied  passions,  in- 
stincts, and  powers.  To  deny  this,  — to  deny  that 
these  powers,  instincts,  passions,  pre-exist  in  and 
are  derived  from  Nature,  is  to  affirm  that  they  are 
derived  from  nothing,  are  self-created,  or  are  su- 
pernatural. The  theory  here  proposed  is  based  on 
the  ground  of  the  universality  and  oneness  of  Na- 
ture, —  that  her  life  includes  all  lives,  and  her 
mind  includes  all  minds,  and  her  body  includes 
all  bodies,  whether  organic  or  inorganic. 

Now,  all  the  organic  forms  of  Nature  which  come 
within  the  reach  of  our  analysis  are  governed  and 
controlled,  in  all  their  processes  and  operations,  by 
life  and  mind,  or  animating  and  guiding  souls. 
And  herein  Nature  but  repeats  or  re-creates  her- 
self. She  endows  her  own  offspring  with  her  own 
essences.  "Like  parent,  like  child."  For  the  Uni- 
verse, as  its  name  implies,  is  one  vast  whole,  —  one 
boundless  organism  animated,  and  governed  by  one 


And  Immortality.  23 

Soul.  And  this  soul  of  Nature  is  something  as  un- 
like its  organic  structure,  in  essence,  as  the  es- 
sences of  our  minds  are  unlike  the  materials  of  our 
bodies.  And  yet  this  Infinite  Soul  operates  in 
and  through  the  body  of  Nature,  as  our  souls  oper- 
ate in  and  through  our  bodies.  Hence  we  reach 
the  conclusion,  that  all  the  phenomena  of  the 
universe  are  caused  by  an  overruling  Intelligence, 
working  in  and  through  its  numberless  transfor- 
mations, processes,  &c.  And  this  Intelligence  is 
something  as  different  from  the  body  and  opera- 
tions of  Nature,  as  the  intelligence  of  a  man  is  from 
the  machine  he  constructs,  or  the  house  which  he 
builds.  Nor  is  this  Infinite  Intelligence  any  more 
unseen  or  unknown  to  our  outward  senses  than 
the  intelligence  of  man  is. 

So,  with  what  light  reason  affords  me,  and  also 
in  the  light  of  science,  I  am  forced  to  the  con- 
clusion that  Nature,  so  far  from  being  soulless,  is 
soulful.  And  this  Soul  of  Nature  is  to  me  God, 
and  supplies  all  I  wish  to  feel  or  know  of  a  Divine 
Spirit.  For  he  is  the  Father  of  my  spirit,  as  of 
all  spirits ;  and  Nature  is  the  mother  by  and 
through  which  we  are  formed.  And  so  we  are 
akin,  by  Divine  conception  and  birth,  with  all  liv- 
ing things ;  and  as  man  is  the  highest  of  all  cre- 
ated intelligences,  I  need  no  higher  tokens  of  the 
Divine  life  and  presence  than  what  I  may  find  in 
truly  cultured  and  loving  human  souls. 


24  The  Problem  of  Life 

If,  then,  we  accept  the  Soul  of  Nature  as  the  real 
being  of  God,  we  have  something  upon  which  we 
may  rest  unfettered  and  unswayed  by  the  narrow 
and  conflicting  systems  of  faith  which  human 
ignorance  has  set  up;  for  here  is  indeed  the  "  Rock 
of  ages."  And  yet  here,  also,  we  shall  discover 
the  reason  of  all  these  crude,  conflicting,  and  bar- 
barous creeds.  For  all  these  faiths,  and  even  the 
doubts  and  denials  of  atheism  and  materialism, 
are  ba:;ed  on  phases,  or  are  themselves  phases,  of 
the  Divine  manifestations  of  Nature.  For  God, 
working  through  Nature,  in  his  innumerable  pro- 
cesses, reveals  all  conditions,  from  the  rudest  to  the 
most  refined  and  celestial. 

The  rude,  savage,  or  uncultured  man  lives  in 
the  crude  relations  and  affections  of  Nature;  and 
his  ideas  of  God  are  based  on  her  more  savage  as- 
pects. For  he,  being  an  untutored  child  of  Nature, 
is  especially  impressed  by  her  ruder  manifestations ; 
and  on  beholding  some  grand  display  of  his  disin- 
tegrating and  preparatory  processes,  —  some  earth- 
quake which  buries  cities  full  of  men,  some  tor- 
nado which  strews  coasts  with  shipwrecks,  some 
pestilence  which  depopulates  countries,  —  regards 
these  preparatory  steps  towards  fresher  and  higher 
spiritual  and  organic  conditions  as  tokens  of  his 
displeasure.  Hence  ideas  of  God's  anger,  jealousy, 
revenge,  and  the  need  of  atonements  and  grace- 
winning  sacrifices. 


And  Immortality.  25 

But,  as  the  mind  unfolds  into  broader  and  more 
comprehensive  views  and  conceptions,  it  sees  Na- 
tiire  in  her  formative  and  diviner  aspects,  and 
contemplates  God  as  the  Genius  of  the  universe, 
presiding  in  serene  majesty,  alike  over  its  minut- 
est and  its  grandest  operations.  So  that,  while 
God  is  a  savage  to  the  savage  mind,  he  is  wisdom, 
beneficence,  and  love  to  the  mind  enlightened  by 
these  sentiments.  Hence,  as  above  stated,  all 
the  various  forms  of  religious  faith,  however  con- 
ceited, weak,  foolish,  or  wise ;  all  ideas  of  God, 
gods,  revelations,  miracles,  &c., — are  included  in, 
and  are  as  much  the  outgrowth  of,  the  Divine  life,  as 
are  the  various  individuals  or  classes  who  hold  them. 

So,  when  men  come  with  books,  and  creeds 
founded  thereon,  claiming  for  them  a  divine  origi- 
nal, and  that  God  has  spoken  thus  and  so  to  me, 
through  Moses,  Buddha,  Jesus,  Paul,  Mahomet, 
Swedenborg,  Joseph  Smith  ;  and  that  these  books 
and  creeds  contain  the  whole  of  divine  truth,  so 
much  and  no  more,  —  I  can  truly  say,  Yes  ;  doubt- 
less, God  has  spoken  all  and  more  than  all  you 
claim  ;  and  much  that  our  little  ears  cannot  hear, 
and  which  our  small  understandings  cannot  trans- 
late. For  He  speaks  through  the  unbound  and 
boundless  volumes  of  Nature.  Listen  and  learn, 
until  your  books  and  creeds  sink  into  utter  noth- 
ingness in  the  grandeur,  magnificence,  and  beauty 
which  she  reveals.  For  as  the  mountains,  oceans, 


26  The  Problem  of  Life 

continents,  rivers,  seas,  are  only  parts  of  the  struc- 
ture of  the  earth,  and  the  earth  is  only  an  atom  in 
the  system  of  the  universe,  so  are  your  books, 
creeds,  theologies,  hierarchies,  but  the  minutest 
and  crudest  atoms  in  the  grand  system  of  infinite 
truth  which  God  reveals  to  us  through  Nature. 

And  thus  we  shall  find  that  God  includes  all, 
comprehends  all,  and  is  the  life  and  soul  of  all. 
And  though  unchangeable  in  his  essence,  he  is  the 
cause  of  all  change ;  and  we  may  be  helped  to  a 
better  understanding  of  our  relations  to  him,  by 
a  simple  illustration. 

A  blood-cell  "is  born,  lives,  moves,  and  has  its 
being,  in  man,  and  contains  in  itself  the  vital  es- 
sences of  his  own  being.  And  while  succeeding 
generations  of  these  cells  are  born,  and  their  outer 
forms  perish,  their  vital  elements  still  live  in  him, 
—  inside  of  him.  They  could  not  live  outside  of 
him.  So  we  are  born,  live,  move,  and  have  our 
being,  inside  of  God  ;  and  contain  in  ourselves  his 
vital  and  immortal  essences,  and  are  infolded  and 
secure  in  his  Infinite  life ;  and,  of  course,  can  no 
more  get  outside  of  him,  to  see  and  contemplate 
him  as  a  personality,  than  a  blood-cell  could  get 
outside  of  a  man,  and  live  and  study  him.  If  a 
blood-cell  is  a  conscious  being,  and  wishes  to  find 
us  out,  it  is  in  the  best  possible  place  to  do  that 
within  us.  So  the  best  possible  place  to  study 
God  is  within,  and  not  outside  of  him.  Indeed, 


And  Immortality.  27 

we  can  study  him  nowhere  else,  as  we  are  in, 
and  cannot  get  outside  of  him.  For  I  can  con- 
ceive of  no  limitations  to  God,  as  to  time  and  space. 
And  so  our  ideas  of  now  and  then,  and  here  and 
there,  have  no  application  to  him.  For  God  in- 
cludes all  ivhere  and  when.  To  us,  every  thing  from, 
and  outside  of  us  is  there,  and  every  thing  within 
or  present  to  us  is  here. 

Now,  as  God  includes  infinite  space,  there  is  no 
place  in  the  universe  which  is  away  from  him,  but 
all  is  within,  and  so  here  to  him.  So  of  now  and 
1li<->i.  As  God  includes  infinite  space,  so  all  that 
to  our  finite  minds  has  or  ever  shall  come  to  pass 
in  space  is  really  present  now  to  the  Infinite 
mind. 

We  sit  before  a  panorama,  with  the  whole  paint- 
ing rolled  up  before  us  there  in  the  future.  The 
curtain  rises,  and  the  revelation  begins.  The  can- 
vas unrolls,  moves  before  us,  and  passes  out  of 
sight,  into  history.  That  which  is  unrolled  in  the 
future,  and  that  which  is  rolled  up  in  the  past, 
still  equally  exist.  Now,  as  the  picture  we  have 
been  examining  in  detail  is  all  present  to  the  eye 
of  the  artist,  so  is  the  infinite  panorama  of  the 
universe,  with  all  its  past  history  and  future  re- 
vealings,  present  to  the  mind  of  God  in  one  ever- 
lasting now.  And  we  may  study  their  infinite 
details  in  the  eternity  which  is  alike  behind, 
around,  and  before  us. 


28  The  Problem  of  Life 

Let  us  carry  our  illustration  farther.  Suppose 
a  man  to  represent  the  universe,  with  his  blood-cells 
for  planets,  or  worlds,  and  systems  of  worlds,  circu- 
lating, wheeling,  and  revolving  through  his  bodily 
spaces.  Now,  the  blood-cell  itself  is  a  microscopic 
object  to  us.  And  yet  we  know  it  is  full  of  vital 
activities,  involving  changes,  processes,  operations. 
Let  us  take  these  cells,  circulating  through  man, 
to  represent  the  stellar  and  solar  systems,  circulat- 
ing through  the  spaces  of  the  universe,  and  a 
single  cell  to  represent  our  earth  ;  and  let  us  sup- 
pose these  vital  activities  and  operations  of  the 
cell  to  be  carried  on  by  hundreds  of  millions  of 
living  beings,  so  infinitesimally  small  that  no  micro- 
scope can  ever  reveal  them  to  us ;  and  whose  period 
of  existence  is  so  short  that  they  are  born  and  die 
"  ere  thy  watch  tick  twice."  And  yet  their  lives 
are  as  long  to  them  as  ours  are  to  us. 

Let  us  suppose  these  beings  to  have  govern-, 
ments,  wars,  customs,  laws,  societies,  — religious, 
social,  scientific,  reformatory.  Nearly  all  of  them 
are  religious.  They  have  a  strong  and  over-mas- 
tering instinctive  feeling  of  being  related  to  an 
overruling  power;  upon  which  they  are  somehow 
dependent ;  and  who,  or  which,  they  claim  to  have 
made  revelations  of  himself  to  certain  classes, 
tribes,  or  individuals  in  ancient  times ;  and  upon 
which  revelations  they  build  faiths,  systems, 
theologies,  all  conflicting  in  some  things,  yet  all 


And  Immortality.  29 

agreeing    in    one    thing,  to   wit,  the   overruling 
power. 

Classes  of  scientific  inquirers  and  investigators 
are  formed  to  seek  out,  and  if  possible  solve  the 
problems  of  their  own  being  and  relations.  Some 
dig  and  bore  into  the  ciust  of  this  blood-cell  (world), 
to  find  out  its  age,  and  how  it  was  formed.  Some 
point  their  telescopes  away  to  other  cells  .(worlds), 
floating  and  circulating  in  these  vast  spaces ;  cal- 
culate their  orbits,  what  they  are  made  of,  how 
much  they  weigh,  &c.,  &c.  Some  strain  their 
eyes  over  microscopes.  Some  with  lamps,  cruci- 
bles, retorts,  examine  and  analyze  the  materials 
around  them,  subjecting  them  to  the  most  rigid 
tests.  Some  carefully  examine  lower  orders  of 
beings,  and  trace  out  analogies  in  these  beings  with 
themselves,  and  think  possibly  they  may  have 
descended  from  these  very  beings.  - 

In  the  course  of  their  researches,  they  have  satis- 
fied themselves  that  matter  exists  under  numerous 
forms,  because  they  can  handle,  it,  and  subject  it 
to  their  analyses.  They  believe  in  life  and  inind, 
because  they  live  and  think.  But  they  cannot 
prove  their  existence  by  any  of  their  accepted 
scientific  methods  ;  and  whether,  after  all,  they  are 
any  thing  more  than  forms  of  matter,  and  so  are 
caused  wholly  by  certain  changes  or  combinations 
of  matter,  they  cannot  tell;  although  some  of 
them  are  quite  sure  that  their  little  chemistry  and 


3O  The  Problem  of  Life 

microscopy  will  explain  it  all  one  of  these  days ; 
and  so  they  look  to  their  scientific  methods  for  a 
solution  of  the  whole  problem. 

Meantime,  some  of  the  less  wise  among  the  re- 
ligious classes  look  with  more  or  less  perturbation 
u;>on  all  this  investigation  and  analysis.  They 
are  afraid  that  somehow  their  cherished  theories  of 
God,  worships,  faiths,  rituals,  may  be  uprooted  by 
these  sharp  and  critical  researches.  And  contro- 
versies arise  between  the  religionists  and  the 
scientists. 

The  religionist  trusts  to  his  faith,  based  in  his 
intuitions,  and  fortified  by  his  revelations.  The 
scientist  trusts  to  his  investigations,  based  on  the 
facts  of  Nature.  He  says  to  the  religionist, 
"  Prove  me  your  God ;  for  I  rest  not  in  beliefs,  but 
in  demonstrations."  The  religionist  answers :  "  I 
cannot  prove  God  by  your  mechanical  methods,  for 
he  is  spirit ;  and  not  to  be  weighed,  or  measured, 
or  in  any  way  limited,  by  your  formularies ;  but  I 
know  he  is,  for  I  feel  him  in  my  consciousness. 
And  I  know,  further,  that,  if  he  were  not,  I  could 
not  be." 

And  so  the  controversy  goes  on  upon  this  little 
blood-cell,  which  still  circulates  and  revolves. 
And  both  the  contestants  are  right,  each  in  his 
own  way.  The  religionist  as  to  the  main  ground 
of  his  belief,  —  intuition.  The  scientist  in  push  ing 
his  investigations ;  for  he  must  ultimately  laud 


And  Immortality.  31 

on  the  same  ground  with  the  religionist.  And  so 
science  shall  render  a  noble  service  in  demonstrat- 
ing the  true  basis  of  intuition  ;  and  religion  itself 
shall  be  stripped  of  all  supernaturalisms,  and  in- 
vested with  the  highest  forms  of  practical  and 
poetic  beauty,  goodness,  and  use. 

In  our  illustration,  all  this  is  supposed  to  be  going 
on  upon  a  blood-cell,  circulating  and  revolving  in- 
side of  a  man.  And  some  few  of  the  beings  there 
really  doubt  whether  the  universe  (man)  in  which 
they  live,  move,  and  have  their  being,  and  from 
which  they  derive  all  their  life  and  knowledge,  is 
itself  (himself)  really  alive,  and  knows  any  thing. 

To  leave  supposition,  and  come  to  fact,  all  this 
time  the  man  himself  is  pursuing  his  own  objects  ; 
searching  out  the  mysteries  of  his  own  .being  and 
relations ;  boring,  analyzing,  telescoping,  micro- 
scoping,  on  one  of  the  cells  (planets)  which  circu- 
late and  revolve  through  the  infinite  structure  of 
the  Universe  (God),  and  doubt/ing  whether  there 
is  any  intelligence  which  orders,  moves,  and  gov- 
erns all  this  wonderful  mechanism.  And  let  men 
doubt,  until  broader  and  more  comprehensive 
methods  of  inquiry  and  investigation  shall  dem- 
onstrate the  truth,  that  life  and  knowledge  are  not 
limited  to  material  organic  forms,  but  are  bound- 
less as  the  Universe. 

And  herein  also  we  discover  the  real  basis  of 
intuitive  religion,  or  the  religion  of  feeliiiy.  As 


32  The  Problem  of  Life 

all  our  powers  and  capacities  are  derived  from  the 
Infinite,  a  cognition  or  consciousness  of  our  origin 
goes  into  our  structure  with  our  formation,  and  is 
revealed  to  us  there  by  inward  sense,  or  intuition. 
The  finite  feels  this  relationship  to  the  Infinite. 
And  this  feeling  is  proof  to  the  inward  sense  ; 
although  we  cannot  prove  it  to  the  outward  sense, 
or  the  intellect,  by  any  of  our  narrow  mechanically 
scientific  methods.  And  so  we  must  apply  spirit- 
ual testimonies  to  spiritual  subjects,  as  material 
tests  are  not  applicable.  Hence  genuine  science 
can  never  quarrel  with  religion,  but  only  with  the 
dogmas  and  devices  with  which  human  ignorance 
has  burdened  it. 

Intuition  is  the  childhood  of  religion.  And  we 
wrap  it  about  with  swaddling-clothes  and  ban- 
dages, or  creeds,  forms,  and  ceremonies,  for  the 
reason  that  we  are  not  yet  enough  matured  to  re- 
ceive the  truth  naked,  and  for  its  own  sake. 
Science,  or  knowledge,  is  the  manhood  of  religion. 
And  although  manhood  does  not  need,  and  so  casts 
away,  the  bandages  and  small  clothes,  the  forms 
and  ceremonials  of  infancy,  it  cannot  deny  itself; 
as  science  is  nothing  more  than  matured,  or  ful- 
filled and  demonstrated  intuition. 

And  so  intuition  may  be  regarded  as  the  geo- 
logy of  religion;  into  whose  deeps,  science  is 
now  carrying  her  explorations,  with  feeble  lamp 
and  blazing  torch.  And  the  highest  service 


And  Immortality.  33 

which  science  can  perform,  will  be  to  demonstrate 
the  truth  of  intuitive  religion  to  the  understand- 
ing. And  such  must  be  the  final  result  of  all  her 
researches  and  investigations.  So  that  instead  of 
intuition  "giving  place  to  science,"  as  held  to  be  the 
result  of  investigations  by  some,  science  shall  only 
explain  and  confirm  the  impressions  of  intuition. 

One  of  the  short-comings  in  all  theologies  lies 
in  searching  for  God  not  only  outside  the  human 
soul,  where  his  special  kingdom  is,  but  as  a  person- 
ality, existing  outside,  separate  from,  and  inde- 
pendent of,  Nature  herself.  The  human  mind  is 
forever  seeking  rest  in  its  own  definitions  and  lim- 
itations. Hence  it  has  set  up  personal  gods  ;  and, 
having  no  power  to  conceive  of  any  thing  beyond 
its  own  range  of  thought,  has  endowed  them  with 
its  own  finite  passions,  including  anger,  jealousy, 
and  revenge.  And  this  auger  and  jealousy  have 
been  chiefly  towards  man  himself.  As  rude,  un- 
cultured man  was  angry  with  and  jealous  of  his 
fellows,  so  of  course  must  his  god  be.  And  thus 
controversies  have  always  existed  between  gods 
and  man.  Even  the  one  God  of  the  Jews  and 
Christians  is  no  exception  to  this  rule.  And  so 
his  anger  must  be  pacified,  his  jealousy  removed, 
and  his  favor  propitiated  with  peace-offerings, 
atonements,  and  sacrifices. 

Now,  when  men.  as  before  suggested,  contem- 
plate God  as  the  Soul  of  the  Universe,  immanent  in 


34  The  Problem  of  Life 

every  point  of  infinite  space,  as  really  alive  and 
present  there  as  we  are  alive  and  present  in  every 
part  of  our  bodies,  and  infinitely  more  cognizant 
of  what  is  done  there  than  we  can  be  of  what  is 
done  in  our  bodies,  so  that  really  not  a  "  sparrow 
can  fall  without  his  notice,"  and  the  "  hairs  of  our 
.heads"  are  truly  "numbered,"  there  will  be  an 
end  of  all  intolerant  and  prescriptive  theological 
dogmas.  For  all  will  see  that  the  ideas  of  God  must 
be  as  varied  as  are  the  various  stand-points  from 
which  his  children  contemplate  him;  and  so  no 
man,  or  class,  can  monopolize  a  knowledge  of  him, 
as  his  deep  mysteries  are  past  finding  out. 

And  yet  simple,  honest,  truth-seeking  inquiry 
into  the  phenomena  of  Nature,  with  an  earnest 
desire  to  find  out  the  meanings  and  purposes  of  her 
processes  and  operations,  may  help  to  clear  up  and 
explain  many  things  which  now  seem  mysterious. 
And  first  and  chiefest  of  all  these  phenomena, 
and  that  which  most  deeply  interests  us,  is  the 
origin  of  our  own  being,  with  the  uses  of  our 
bodily  conditions  and  relations,  and  our  ultimate 
destiny.  And  first  in  the  order  of  inquiry  comes 

THE    GENESIS    OF   MAN. 

I  have  referred,  I  think,  to  sufficient  proofs  of 
an  overruling  Intelligence,  operating  through  the 
processes,  and  causing  the  phenomena  of  the 
Universe.  And  I  wish  further  to  show  that  this 


And  Immortality.  35 

Intelligence  works  with  purpose,  design,  or  end ; 
one  of  which,  the  formation  of  man,  may  be  so  well 
understood,  as  to  an  extent  to  satisfy  the  inquiring 
mind,  that  at  least  it  has  got  on  the  right  track. 

The  first  evidences  that  God  works  with  a  pur- 
pose in  the  formation  of  man,  are  seen  in  the  fact 
that  we  are  full  of  purposes  and  designs.  And  as 
something  cannot  come  from  nothing,  effects  can- 
not be  greater  than  their  causes,  nor  the  parts  of 
a  thing  greater  than  the  whole,  these  designs  and 
purposes  of  ours  are  derived  from  and  are  only 
continued  forms  of  the  operations  of  that  which 
designed  and  purposed  us. 

Now,  all  our  designs  and  ends,  from  the  least  to 
the  greatest,  —  whether  building  a  hut,  the  Suez  Ca- 
nal, or  a  railroad  across  the  continent,  —  are  carried 
on  and  reached  through  step-by-step  processes.  Take 
a  familiar  illustration  :  "We  have  here  a  mass  of 
silicon  cocoons,  which  we  wish  to  weave  into  a 
beautiful  fabric.  We  first  put  these  crude  balls  of 
silk  into  warm  water,  so  as  to  loosen  and  separate 
their  adhering  fibres.  Then  we  stir  them  about 
with  a  stick,  by  which  we  catch  up  the  ends  of  these 
loosened  fibres,  and  draw  them  out  in  parallel  lines, 
and  wind  them  upon  the  reel,  from  which  they  are 
twisted  into  threads,  wound  upon  spools,  and  at 
length,  after  many  preparatory  processes,  carried  to 
the  loom,  and  woven  into  the  ultimate  texture. 

In  this  case  the  processes  and  the  resulting  tcx- 


36  The  Problem  of  Life 

turo  are  very  simple.  But  suppose  we  wish  to  com- 
pound a  fabric  of  silk,  cotton,  wool,  mohair,  and 
other  material.  We  not  only  complicate  our  fabric, 
by  so  much  as  the  number  of  materials  entering 
into  it,  but  we  also  complicate  our  mach  inery  and 
processes  to  nearly  the  same  extent.  The  more 
complex  the  structure,  the  more  complex  the  means 
and  appliances  by  which  it  is  formed.  And  all 
these  materials,  means,  and  appliances  involve  de- 
sign, purpose,  end.  And  as  our  lives  and  beings 
are  but  extensions  and  continuations  of  the  Infi- 
nite life  and  being,  these  designs  and  purposes  of 
ours  are  only  extensions  or  continuations  of  the 
designs  and  purposes  of  the  wisdom  and  power 
which  formed  us.  The  statement,  so  far,  is  based 
on  its  own  proofs. 

But  I  am  not  here  anxious  to  prove  design  in 
the  being  of  man,  but  rather  to  approximate  a 
knowledge  of  what  he  is,  and  how  he  came  to  be 
such.  And,  in  order  to  do  this,  we  must  treat 
ourselves  by  the  same  methods  we  employ  when  we 
wish  to  find  out  what  any  other  compound  is  made 
of,  aad  how  it  is  made.  And,  in  order  to  do  this, 
we  analyze  it ;  and,  by  separating  its  constituents, 
we  can  find  out  what  elements  enter  into  its  struc- 
ture. Thus  we  could  separate  the  silk,  cotton, 
wool,  &c.,  in  our  fabric,  into  their  simple  elements, 
and,  by  examining  the  machinery,  find  out  how 
they  were  compounded.  So  of  other  compounds. 


And  Immortality.  37 

We  find  copper  and  zinc  in  brass ;  hydrogen  and 
oxygen  in  water ;  and  in  some  bodies  a  great 
variety  of  substances.  And  these  substances  carry 
their  essences  into  combination,  so  as  to  make  up 
the  new  compound ;  and  analysis  will  generally 
enable  us  to  trace  out  and  discover  these  elements. 
What  is  true  in  art,  and  the  inorganic,  is  equally 
true  and  as  easily  discovered  in  the  organic  world. 
Nearly  all,  if  not  all,  animal  bodies  are  composed  of 
the  same  elements.  The  albumen  in  the  body  of  a 
fish,  reptile,  bird,  mammal,  is  the  same  as  in  the 
body  of  man.  So  of  the  lime  in  their  bones,  and  of 
other  elements  which  enter  into  their  structures. 
Yet  the  body  of  man  is,  doubtless,  composed  of  the 
most  refined  as  well  as  the  greatest  number  of 
simple  substances.  In  other  words,  it  is  more 
complex  and  perfect  than  any  other  living  struc- 
ture. Yet  if  we  should  thoroughly  analyze  the 
body  of  man,  and  those  of  other  beings,  we  should 
find  that  no  element  exists  in  the  human  body 
which  may  not  be  found  in  the  bodies  of  other  ani- 
mals ;  only  the  elements  in  his  body  are  more  re- 
fined and  clarified  than  in  theirs.  What  is  true  of 
material  is  equally  true  and  as  easily  shown  in 
spiritual  things.  All  the  passions  and  mental 
qualities  of  the  human  soul  may  be  found  to  exist 
in  partial  combination,  or  as  separate  and  distinc- 
tive attributes,  in  the  lower  animals.  And  my 
present 


38  The  Problem  of  Life 

PROPOSITION 

is,  that  before  man  was  created,  as  a  separate,  dis- 
tinctive being,  all  the  materials  of  which  he  is 
composed  were  elaborated,  developed,  and  carried 
through  long  preparatory  processes  in  the  lives  and 
organic  forms  of  all  the  beings  below  him  ;  begin- 
ning with  the  simple  vegetable  cell,  and  thence 
upward. 

And  here  I  must  take  the  liberty  of  applying 
my  own  definitions  to  my  own  subject ;  especially, 
as  I  believe  them  to  be  generally  received  among 
thinkers. 

By  "  creation,"  I  mean  simply  formation ;  and 
by  "  death,"  or  "  destruction,"  merely  separation, 
or  disintegration. 

By  "  man,"  I  mean  the  whole  of  his  spiritual 
being;  and  so  of  all  other  animals.  His  and 
their  bodies  I  regard  merely  as  organic  structures, 
machines,  or  implements ;  which  serve  tempo- 
rary and  incidental  purposes,  and  which  are  va- 
cated and  disintegrated  for  other  uses,  whenever  the 
ends  for  which  they  were  formed  have  been  accom- 
plished ;  and  sometimes,  doubtless,  they  are  cast  off 
in  failing  of  that  end. 

By  "nature,"  I  mean  all  the  phenomena  of  the 
Universe,  which  are  but  the  aggregate  of  God's 
methods  and  processes. 

I  cannot  believe  that  the  wonderful  soul  of  man 
is  a  new  creation  out  of  wholly  raw  material.  But 


And  Immortality.  39 

I  can  believe,  on  the  evidence  which  appears,  that 
this  soul  was,  and  continues  to  be,  composed  of 
spiritual  elements,  which  have  passed  through  long 
and  infinitely  varied  transforming,  purifying,  and 
preparatory  processes,  in  the  lives  and  organic 
forms  of  all  inferior  beings. 

And  I  can  also  believe,  that  whenever,  wherever, 
and  in  however  so  many  places,  on  whatever  conti- 
nents or  islands,  the  preparatory  steps  were  taken, 
and  the  materials  were  ready  for  his  formation,  he 
was  formed ;  with  all  that  inherently  and  essen- 
tially, as  to  his  capacities  and  possibilities,  consti- 
tutes him  man;  as  much  and  completely  a  man 
at  the  beginning,  as  he  is  now. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  opposing  "the 
development  theory."  On  the  contrary,  I  most 
fully  believe  it ;  and  so 'am  trying  to  explain  and 
elucidate  the  theory,  by  going  behind  and  deeper 
than  mere  organic  forms  and  structures,  and 
showing,  if  possible,  that  these  structures  are  all 
subservient  to  an  end.  And  with  that  economy 
of  force  and  method  which  characterizes  all  the 
operations  of  Nature,  she  limits  her  organic  forms 
to  the  required  ends.  And  when  an  order  of 
beings  is  formed,  —  I  use  the  term  order  in  a  liberal 
and  not  technical  sense,  —  she  requires  that  order 
to  do  a  certain  work,  and  serve  a  certain  end  in  her 
economies ;  and  when  she  wants  other  work  done, 
and  other  ends  served,  she  prepares  her  instru- 


40  The  Problem  of  Life 

ments  to  serve  them.  And  whenever  any  end  has 
been  accomplished  in  her  grand  laboratory,  aud 
she  has  no  further  need  of  the  particular  order 
which  served  that  end,  she  extinguishes  it.  And  if 
she  needs  a  new  order  or  species  in  her  methods 
or  operations,  she  forms  it;  but  does  not  transform 
the  old,  except  by  absolute  disintegration,  and  re- 
formation into  new.  And  so  old  orders  and  species 
have  become  extinct,  and  new  ones  formed. 

But  is  there  anywhere  the  slightest  proof  that 
the  old  species  have  become  extinct  by  being 
transformed  into  new  ones  ?  If  so,  this  transfor- 
mation must  have  been,  on  Mr.  Darwin's  showing, 
very  slow  ;  involving  at  least  "  ten  thousand  gen- 
erations "  to  produce  "  only  well-marked  varieties." 
And  if  in  the  course  of  a  hundred  thousand  gen- 
erations a  new  genus  is  formed,  not  to  say  order 
or  class,  numerous  generations  of  these  partly 
transformed  beings  in  all  the  various  stages  of 
their  transformations  must  have  left  "their  bones 
somewhere  among  the  organic  remains  of  the  past. 
For  the  theory  of  material  organic  "  develop- 
ment," in  order  to  be  complete,  and  good  for  any 
thing,  must  cover  the  whole  ground,  and  include 
transformation  of  genus,  order,  and  class,  as  well 
as  "  species ; "  so  that  by  continued  transforma- 
tions of  lower  into  higher,  man  shall  be  at  length 
evolved  through  these  gradual  and  long-continued 
changes.  And  this  theory  not  only  involves  the 


And  Immortality.  41 

transformation  of  the  organic  structure  of  fish  into 
reptile,  but  of  reptile  into  bird,  and  of  bird  into 
mammal,  upward  to  man.  ("  Descent  of  Man,"  pp. 
203-4.)  Now,  it  would  require  numberless  gene- 
rations of  this  slow  transforming  process  to  con- 
vert the  highest  ape  into  man ;  and  innumerable 
generations  of  these  partially  transformed  beings 
must  have  died,  and  left  their  traces  behind.  If 
such  beings  ever  existed,  where  are  the  evidences  ? 
Again  :  If  men  were  primarily  transformed  from 
apes,  then  were  apes  transformed  from  the  next 
lower  order  in  the  class,  and  so  on,  downward.  And 
if  man  originated  through  transformations  of  or- 
ganic structures,  he  is  certainly  not  so  continued : 
for  a  practical  application  of  the  theory  of  organic 
transformations  would  require  that  apes  should 
now  be  converted  into  men,  as  in  the  past:  and 
they  certainly  are  not.  In  the  past,  on  this  theory, 
apes  were  only  partly-formed,  or  immature  men, 
which  at  length  became  complete  men  through 
transformation.  In  the  present  what  are  apes  ? 
Are  they  now  converted,  or  to  be  converted,  into 
men  as  in  the  past  ?  If  man  primarily  came  from 
apes,  why  does  he  not  come  so  now  ?  or,  if  apes 
ever  were  converted  into  men,  why  are  they  not  so 
converted  now  ?  and  if  not  now,  were  they  ever  so 
converted?  if  not  so  converted,  what  becomes  of 
them  ?  Of  course  they  live  and  die  apes,  and  noth- 
ing else. 


42  The  Problem  of  Life 

In  all  the  present  modes  of  animal  transforma- 
tions with  which  we  are  familiar,  the  being  is  first 
egg,  then  larva,  then  pupa,  and  last  imago,  —  per- 
fected being.  Now,  the  animal  is  essentially  the 
same  being,  existing  under  different  forms,  in  all 
of  these  states.  And  yet  it  is  capable  of  repro- 
duction in  only  one,  the  last  of  them.  And  we  do 
not  know  of  the  absolute  transformation  of  any 
animal  after  it  has  attained  the  power  of  repro- 
duction ;  as  this  power  belongs  only  to  the  per- 
fected state. 

Now,  the  theory  of  transformations,  set  up  and 
sought  to  be  maintained  by  Darwin,  Huxley,  and 
others,  regards  man  as  the  imago,  or  perfected  state, 
of  all  the  classes,  orders,  genera,  &c.,  of  the  beings 
below  him ;  and  all  these  beings  are  essentially 
men  ;  that  is,  one  and  the  same  being  in  different 
states  of  unfoldinent.  So  that  the  transformations 
instead  of  being  only  three,  as  in  other  beings,  are, 
in  the  case  of  man,  on  this  theory,  innumerable. 
And  yet  every  one  of  these  beings,  from  the  simple 
cell  upwards,  through  the  numberless  forms  of 
vegetable,  insect,  fish,  reptile,  bird,  and  mammal 
life,  is  capable  of  generating  and  reproducing  its 
kind,  and  its  kind  only. 

Hence  it  follows,  according  to  all  natural  law, 
that  every  one  of  these  classes,  orders,  genera,  are, 
each  and  all,  so  far  as  their  organic  forms  go.  per- 
fected beings  ;  and  never  were,  and  never  will  be, 


And  Immortality.  43 

transformed  from  one  into  the  other,  in  the  man- 
iii  T  attempted  to  be  proved. 

For  it  seems  to  me  that  the  theory  of  develop- 
ment through  organic  transformations,  which  cul- 
minated in  the  formation  of  man,  must  regard 
him  as  being  in  some  ages  past  the  imago  of  the 
innumerable  transformations  of  the  same  being ; 
and,  after  the  whole  chain  of  transformations  was 
completed,  it  was  again  broken  up  into  the  origi- 
nal innumerable  links,  each  of  which  now  belongs 
to  a  separate  and  distinct  class,  order,  or  genera  of 
beings  ;  and  each  of  which  can  reproduce  its  kind, 
and  no  other.  As  if  after  the  butterfly  had  been 
formed,  each  state  in  the  order  of  unfolding  — 
pgg,  larva,  pupa,  and  imago — should  become  sever- 
ally independent  of  each  other,  so  that  each  should 
become  a  distinct  and  separate  being,  live  an  in- 
dividual life,  and  each  generate  after  its  kind, 
without  any  relation  to  or  dependence  upon  the 
other.  Eggs  continue  to  generate  eggs,  larva 
generate  larva,  pupa,  pupa,  and  so  on. 

Again  :  Mr.  Darwin  says,  —  "  Origin  of  Species," 
p.  27,  —  "  Great  as  the  differences  are  between  the 
breeds  of  pigeons,  I  am  convinced  that  all  have 
descended  from  the  rock-pigeon."  Yes :  but  with  all 
their  differences  they  are  all  pigeons  still.  But 
will  any  one  here  argue  that  the  rock-pigeon  de- 
scended from  the  crow,  or  ever  has  been,  or  may 
be,  transformed  into  the  crow  or  raven  ? 


44  The  Problem  of  Life 

There  are  as  great  differences  in  the  breeds  of 
hens ;  but  will  anybody  contend  that  they  ever 
descended  from  any  thing  but  the  hen  ?  and  that 
they  may  possibly  have  been  transformed  from 
ducks  or  geese  ? 

So  of  mammals.  The  common  pig  "  is  supposed 
to  be  descended  from  the  wild  boar"  but  he  exists 
in  almost  endless  variety.  Yet  not  one  of  them'  all 
ever  descended  from  the  sheep,  or  will  be  trans- 
formed into  a  sheep. 

The  dogs,  in  all  their  numberless  varieties,  may 
have  descended  from  the  wolf,  or  jackal,  or  both. 
But  who  will  venture  the  affirmation  that  they 
ever  descended  from  the  lynx  or  the  leopard,  or 
will  ever  be  converted  into  one  or  the  other  ? 

If  such  transformations  were  possible  under  the 
laws  of  natural  descent,  we  can  readily  see  what 
might  follow.  There  might  be,  and  would  be, 
utter  confusion  throughout  the  whole  of  animated 
nature ;  for  if  it  were  possible  to  transform  pigeon 
into  raven,  he  might  also  be  transformed  into  an 
eagle  or  a  swan,  and  even  break  over  the  barrier 
into  the  higher  class  of  mammals;  and  here,  also, 
"  chaos  might  come  again."  For  these  transforma- 
tions would  not  be  sudden,  but  continued  through 
innumerable  generations.  And  what  a  conglom- 
erate of  life  would  be  here  !  No :  it  seems  to  me,  — 
so  it  seems,  —  according  to  natural  law,  and  the 
facts  agreeing  therewith,  that  pigeons  were  always 


And  Immortality.  45 

pigeons,  and  never  were,  and  never  will  be,  any 
thing  else :  and  so  of  all  classes,  orders,  species. 
Produce  as  many  varieties  as  you  will,  they  are 
still  the  same  species. 

If  the  transformations  contended  for  have  ever 
taken  place,  when,  where,  and  why  have  they 
ceased  ?  or  have  they  not  ceased  ?  and  if  not,  why 
may  not  man  himself  be  transformed  into  a  new 
and  higher  class,  or  a  higher  order  in  the  class  ? 

I  raise  these  questions  and  difficulties  for  the 
purpose  of  suggesting  the  most  thorough  and  rigid 
examination  of  this  subject.  And  while  I  accept 
the  theory  of  development  in  its  vital  and  spiritual 
forms  and  relations,  its  material  and  organic  form 
of  statement  presents  to  my  mind  insuperable  diffi- 
culties and  objections.  In  other  words,  I  believe 
the  theory  true  in  spirit,  and  untrue  only  in  form 
or  method. 

And  so  I  do  not  believe  that  in  and  through  the 
innumerable  ages  of  the  past,  man  has  slowly  wrig- 
gled his  way  upwards  from  fish  to  reptile,  and 
glided  thence  into  bird,  and  flown  about  on  wings, 
and  then  down  upon  all  fours  in  the  mammal,  and 
then  partly  up  again  through  troglodyte  apes, 
and  thence  by  some  mysterious  transformation  of 
structure  each  ape  is  changed  into  a  man  ;  either 
through  "  natural,"  "  sexual,"  or  other  "  selec- 
tion," and  leaving  behind  him  no  traces  or  "  links  " 
by  which  we  can  follow  out  these  marvellous  transi- 


46  The  Problem  of  Life 

tions.  And  yet  there  is  no  living  animal  whose 
organic  form  and  mental  endowments  do  not 
somehow  furnish  hints,  nay  more,  proofs,  of  its 
relations  to  man. 

And  yet  there  stands,  and  has  stood,  from  age  to 
age,  that  unrepealed  and  unrepeatable  physiologi- 
cal law,  established  by  the  Creator  in  every  living 
being,  which  forbids  one  order  from  meeting  and 
combining  half-way  with  another  order;  and  so,  at 
length,  confusing  the  whole  of  organic  life  into 
one  conglomerate  mass,  and  thus  defeating  the 
end  which  the  formation  of  all  these  creatures  is 
intended  to  reach.  And  so  all  the  various  classes, 
orders,  genera,  with  their  numerous  divisions  and 
sub-divisions,  are  kept  at  their  distinct  and  separate 
occupations  and  uses,  after  the  most  approved  and 
economical  methods  of  division  of  labor;  while 
man  is  the  same  being  all  over  the  earth,  —  as 
the  squat-figured  Esquimaux  of  the  poles,  the 
flat-nosed,  black-skinned  negro  of  the  tropics,  are 
in  all  essentials  as  really  men,  have  been  from 
the  beginning,  and  will  be  to  the  end,  if  there 
be  an  end,  as  the  enlightened  and  cultured  Cau- 
casian of  the  temperate  regions.  And  there  bus 
yet  been  discovered  no  physiological  bar  to  their 
successful  crossing  and  re-crossing,  from  the  same 
beginning  to  the  same  end. 

As  helping  to  illustrate  this  subject,  we  may  re- 
gard the  earth,  with  its  surrounding  atmosphere, 


And  Immortality.  47 

as  one  vast  laboratory,  with  its  foundries,  forges, 
alembics,  crucibles,  and  all  the  endless  parapher- 
nalia of  vital  mechanisms ;  with  all  living  beings 
as  the  operatives  ;  where  God  carries  on  the  work 
of  forming  the  human  soul,  and  fitting  it 'for  im- 
mortal, individualized  consciousness.  And  this  im- 
mortal, conscious  man  is  the  end  to  which  all  the 
lower  forms  of  life  tend,  and  which  they  are  des- 
tined to  reach,  by  merging  and  fusing  the  lesser 
into  one  compound,  to  form  the  greater ;  and  thus 
having  their  own  lives,  characteristics,  and  con- 
sciousness lost  as  separate  beings  in  forming  his. 

The  theory  here  proposed  does  not  deny,  but  on 
the  contrary  affirms,  that  the  ape  helps  to  form 
man  ;  but  it  holds  that  no  one  ape,  nor  all  apes 
combined,  contain  in  themselves  the  elements  of 
character  in  sufficient  number  and  variety  to  form 
the  basis  of  one  man.  Take,  as  an  illustration,  the 
gorilla.  No  doubt  his  ferocity,  or  aggressive  and 
defensive  qualities,  are  equal,  perhaps  greater  in 
quantity,  than  in  man  ;  and  his  physical  strength  is 
certainly  greater.  And^yet  he  lacks  judgment, 
discretion,  the  power  of  combination  or  invention  ; 
and  so  the  development  of  whatever  qualities  the 
whole  species  has  will  never  amount  to  more  than 
the  fragments  of  a  man. 

The  bodily  structures  of  all  other  animals  will 
not  enable  them  to  perform  what  the  bodily  struc- 
ture of  man  enables  him  to  perform.  Nor  do  the 


48  The  Problem  of  Life 

minds  of  all  animated  creatures  below  man  enable 
them  to  ascend  to  the  mental  heights  of  one  man. 
Yet  should  all  the  mental  qualities  and  powers  of 
all  the  lower  animals  be  combined,  united,  and 
brought  into  harmonious  consciousness  in  one  race, 
we  should  doubtless  find  in  that  one  race  all  the 
elements,  capacities,  and  possibilities  of  man.  In- 
deed, we  should  have  man,  as  the  result  of  such  a 
combination. 

In  tracing  the  origin  of  man,  or  his  "  descent " 
from  the  lower  animals,  Mr.  Darwin  finds  a  "  vast 
chasm "  between  the  highest  ape  and  the  lowest 
savage  man.  This  "  chasm"  would  be  made  still 
more  apparent,  by  placing  the  young  of  the  high- 
est ape,  and  a  child  of  the  savage,  immediately 
after  birth,  under  the  best  possible  conditions  of 
education  and  culture.  For,  while  the  natural 
capacity  of  one  would  limit  his  development  to  a 
well-trained  ape,  the  natural  capacity  of  the  other 
would  in  no  way  hinder  his  development  into  a 
philosopher,  fully  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  Darwin 
himself.  And  for  this  reason :  that  while  the  ape 
combines  only  the  mental  qualities  of  his  race, 
man  combines  in  himself,  not  only  the  mental 
qualities  of  the  ape,  but  of  all  other  living  beings 
below  him,  which  combination  gives  him  almost 
unlimited  capacity  for  development. 

Were  it  possible  to  put  the  soul  of  a  dog,  or  of  the 
highest  ape,  into  the  body  of  a  man,  or  to  clothe 


And  Immortality.  49 

them  in  human  form,  the  one  would  "  down  upon 
all  fours/'  and  the  other  would  still  be  an  ape, 
except  in  outward  form. 

It  will  be  seen,  that,  in  my  methods  of  treating 
this  subject,  I  am  dealing,  according  to  my  poor 
ability,  with  its  essential  or  spiritual  facts.  For 
science  is  really  spiritual.  A  rock  is  not  science  ; 
but  knowledge  of  the  rock,  according  to  our  defini- 
tion, is,  whether  it  be  Granite,  Gneiss,  Sienite,  or 
Sandstone.  So  of  chemistry,  botany,  and  the  rest. 
Knowledge  of  these  things  is  alone  the  science  of 
them.  And  this  is  wholly  spiritual.  And  so  real 
science  goes  deeper  than  mere  appearances,  or 
phenomena :  it  seeks  for  the  unseen  thoughts  and 
forces  which  cause  all  outward  appearances. 

In  all  her  formative  operations,  Nature  reaches 
her  results  through  orderly  and  methodical  steps, 
or  processes.  And  this  would  clearly  indicate,  that, 
humanly  speaking,  she  has  an  end  in  view.  All 
her  organic  structures,  not  excepting  the  human 
body,  are  outlined  and  developed  by  the  arrange- 
ment and  combination  of  simple  cells.  Now,  the 
cell  is  only  the  material  clothing  or  vehicle  of  the 
primitive  form  of  life  and  mind.  And,  if  it  were 
possible  to  analyze  the  infinitely  complex  texture 
of  the  human  soul,  we  should  doubtless  find  that 
its  minutest  living  fibre  was  first  — to  use  a  fig- 
ure —  spun  through  a  vegetable  cell.  And  as  the 
silken  fibre  is  something  quite  different  from  the 


50  The  Problem  of  Life 

mechanism  by  which  it  is  separated  from  the  co- 
coon, wound  upon  the  reel,  and  at  length,  through 
many  mechanical  appliances,  woven  into  the  ulti- 
mate texture,  so  is  the  -life  of  the  cell  even  more 
different  from  the  various  material  organic  forms 
through  which  it  passes,  in  numberless  transforma- 
tions and  combinations,  in  the  ascending  scale  of 
progress,  until  it  ultimates,  as  a  minute  factor,  in 
the  life  and  mind  of  man. 

Passing  over  the  preparatory  steps  necessary  to 
the  formation  of  animals,  it  is  sufficient  for  our 
present  inquiry  to  assume,  that  man  could  not  have 
existed  until  both  the  material  and  spiritual  pab- 
ula  were  ready  for  his  formation. 

I  have  presented,  I  think,  sufficient  proofs  of 
God,  as  the  overruling  intelligence  of  the  universe. 
Now,  man  evidently  existed,  primarily,  as  an  ideal 
in  the  Divine  mind,  to  be  wrought  out ;  as  an 
ideal  which  we  desire  to  work  out  exists  prima- 
rily in  our  mind  :  and  we  all  know  the  natural 
way  in  which  the  Divine  mind  reaches  results. 
Man  is  a  result ;  the  highest  we  can  comprehend 
—  if  indeed  he  be  comprehensible  —  in  the  uni- 
verse. I  believe  there  was  a  time  when,  as  an 
individualized,  conscious  being,  he  did  not  exist. 
And  yet  the  materials  of  which  he  is  composed 
did,  do,  always  exist.  The  Divine  mind  sees 
man  as  a  result  to  be  attained,  and  sets  the  pro- 
cesses in  operation.  And  all  the  processes  are 


And  Immortality.  5 1 

governed  by  ideals,  planted  as  germs  in  the  mate- 
rial through  which  any  spiritual  attribute  or  qual- 
ity is  to  be  prepared  as  a  factor,  in  the  production 
of  this  result. 

The  bark,  woody  fibre,  leaves,  or  even  the  sap 
of  trees,  do  not  determine  that  one  shall  be  oak, 
one  maple,  another  pine  :  but  the  sap  itself  is  se- 
lected and  eliminated  by  pre-determining  spiritual 
ideas  or  forces  in  their  germs,  which  clothe  the 
oak,  maple,  or  pine  elements,  in  the  outward  forms 
and  materials  corresponding  to  the  requirements 
of  their  vital  essences,  and  the  ends  they  are  to 
serve  in  the  economy  of  progress.  And  this  law 
will  be  found  on  the  most  rigid  examination  to 
apply  to  all  the  forms  of  animal  life,  including 
man. 

The  pl)3"sical  structures  of  a  bee,  eel,  frog,  pi- 
geon, dog,  chimpanzee,  or  any  other  creature,  are 
governed  in  their  formation  by  the  qualities  or 
characteristics  of  the  mind  and  passion  which  they 
are  required  to  develop.  And  all  these  creatures, 
it  is  reasonable  to  believe,  elaborate  and  prepare 
the  spiritual  elements  which  enter  into  our  own 
structures.  And  through  what  countless  ages  has 
this  earth,  as  a  seething-pot  and  laboratory,  been 
preparing  materials  for  vegetable  life  !  And  these 
preparatory  processes  are  only  steps  towards  the 
higher  development  of  animal  life ;  which,  at 
length,  after  other  countless  ages  of  preparation, 


52  The  Problem  of  Life 

unfolds  in  immortal  consciousness  in  the  human 
soul. 

Man  being  the  result  which  God  reaches  through 
the  operations  of  nature,  a  slight  examination  of 
the  characteristics  of  different  animals  will  go  to 
strengthen  the  theory,  that  the  qualities  of  the 
human  mind  are  first  prepared  and  developed  in 
them.     I  know  there  are  some  thinkers  who  hold 
the  opposite  view,  —  that  the  mental  characteris- 
tics of  animals  are  first  developed  in  man.     Crea- 
tion, they  say,  descends.     But  I  cannot  accept  this 
view.     For  on  examining  the  formative  processes 
in  vegetable  life,  we  discover  that  all  complex  forms 
are  made  up  by  the  union  of  simple  cells.     And 
the   science    of    histology  shows  us  further,  that 
this  is  true  of  animal  formations.     The  higher  do 
not  separate  into  fragments  to  form  the  lower,  in 
any  form   of  organic  life.     For  disintegration    is 
weakness  and  death ;  while  union  is  strength  and 
life.     All  the  lower  forms  of  organic  life  are  in- 
complete ;  and  incompleteness  is  not  the   end,  but 
only  means  to  the  end.     The  end  is  the  constitu- 
tion of   man.     And  the    union    of  the    elements, 
developed  in  and  through  these  lower  beings,  in 
the  spiritual  organism  of  man,  make  up  his  con- 
stitution. 

Yet  all  the  lower  animals  are  perfect  and  com- 
plete as  to  themselves ;  while  relatively  they  are 
only  parts  of  something  greater  than  themselves. 


And  Immortality.  53 

A  brace  in  a  building  is  a  complete  brace,  but  it 
is  only  a  small  part  of  a  building.  Spring,  screw, 
wheel,  £e.,  may  be  all  complete  as  such;  but  they 
must  be  ;ill  combined  to  make  a  complete  watch. 
So  of  any  other  mechanical  structure :  all  the 
parts  must  be  brought  into  harmonious  relations 
in  one  mechanism,  in  order  to  accomplish  any 
given  work. 

So  a  beetle,  dog,  ape,  may  be  all  perfect  and 
complete  as  such  ;  but  it  is  only  when  the  qualities 
of  them  all  are  combined  in  one  structure,  man, 
that  something  is  produced  which  can  really 
begin  and  carry  on  the  work  of  subduing  and  cul- 
tivating the  earth,  and  also  of  subduing  and  culti- 
vating himself. 

A  few  illustrations  will  help  make  this  apparent. 
In  the  pursuits  and  occupations  of  life,  different 
men  have  aptitudes  for  different  pursuits  and  oc- 
cupations :  and  we  shall  find,  on  examination,  that 
the  same  distinguishing  traits  are  largely  charac- 
teristics of  different  lower  animals. 

Some  insects  and  mammals,  such  as  crickets, 
moles,  and  many  others,  are  miners ;  so  are  men. 
Some  are  daubers,  masons,  or  plasterers  ;  as  wasps, 
swallows.  Some  are  builders ;  such  as  ants,  bea- 
vers, and  many  birds.  Some  are  mathematicians ; 
as  bees,  wasps,  spiders.  Some  are  spinners  and 
spoolers;  as  silkworms,  and  other  caterpillars. 
Some  are  weavers ;  as  other  caterpillars,  and  spi- 


54  The  Problem  of  Life 

ders.  Some  are  sailors  and  navigators ;  as  the 
nautilus,  and  aquatic  birds :  while  a  very  lar.^c 
share  are  hunters  on  the  land,  and  in  the  sea  and 
air,  and  therein,  approximating  nearer  to  the 
habits  of  man  while  in  his  ruder  and  less  culti- 
vated state. 

But  the  absolute  indentity  of  mental  and  moral, 
or  passional  endowments  in  the  lower  animals  and 
man,  make  the  evidences  in  favor  of  our  theory 
almost,  if  not  quite,  absolute  proofs. 

How  does  the  skilled  naturalist  know  that  a 
certain  kind  of  scale  came  from  a  certain  kind  of 
fish,  although  he  may  never  'have  seen  the  fish 
from  which  it  was  taken  ?  Because  he  has  seen 
just  that  kind  of  scale  on  just  such  a  fish ;  and 
knows,  further,  that  it  has  never  been  found  on  any 
other.  By  the  same  reasoning  we  know  that  the 
silk  in  our  texture  is  the  same  as  that  found 
upon  the  cocoon;  although  we  may  never  have 
seen  it  unreeled  and  woven  into  the  fabric. 

Now  let  us  apply  this  mode  of  reasoning  to  our 
subject.  Who  by  the  most  rigid  analysis  can  dis- 
cover any  essential  difference  in  the  love,  friend- 
ship, devotion,  in  a  dog,  and  these  sentiments  in 
man  ;  or  that  they  are  not  one  and  the  same  thing 
in  both  ?  Can  any  one  show  that  there  is  the 
slightest  difference  in  the  essence  of  ferocity  in  an 
enraged  tiger,  gorilla,  and  man  ?  The  cunning 
and  shrewdness  in  a  fox  are  precisely  the  same  in 


And  Immortality.  55 

essence  as  in  man.  So  of  pride,  ambition,  in  the 
horse ;  of  memory  in  all  animals ;  of  distrust,  sus- 
picion, in  the  cat.  The  combativeness  in  any 
number  of  fighting  cocks  is  precisely  the  same  as 
in  any  number  of  human  pugilists ;  all  of  whom 
seem  to  fight  from  a  mere  love  of  getting  some- 
body else  down,  and  being  themselves  uppermost. 
And  the  love  of  display  in  the  peacock  crops  out 
in  full-feathered  glory  in  human  dandies  of  both 
sexes.  And  misers  and  hoarders  may  surely  find 
their  originals  in  jays  and  crows  ;  and  thieves,  bur- 
glars, robbers,  and  plunderers  in  general,  will  find 
their  nearest  relatives  in  nocturnal  beasts  and 
birds  of  prey.  The  love,  tenderness,  devotion,  and 
care  for  their  young  in  nearly  all  animals,  and  the 
grief  at  their  loss,  which  is  excessive  in  some, 
diffor  in  no  essential  particular  from  the  same  emo- 
tions in  man.  So  of  the  sympathy  which  animals 
have  for  each  other  in  danger,  as  shown  by  the 
warnings  and  outcries  which  they  utter  as  signals. 
And  many,  as  monkeys  and  baboons,  will  fight  in 
troops  and  armies  against  a  common  enemy.  And 
wherein  does  the  spirit  of  playfulness,  sportiveness, 
amusement,  differ  in  essence  in  animals  and  man  ? 
But  I  find  in  Darwin's  "  Descent  of  Man,"  vol.  i. 
p.  180,  a  condensed  account  of  the  mental  quali- 
ties of  one  little  creature,  which  are  so  intensely 
human  that  I  give  the  passage  entire. 

"  Ants  communicate  information  to  each  other, 


56  The  Problem  of  Life 

and  several  unite  for  the  same  work,  or  games  of 
play.  They  recognize  their  fellow-ants  aftel 
months  of  absence.  They  build  great  edifices, 
keep  them  clean,  close  the  doors  in  the  evening, 
and  post  sentries.  They  make  roads,  and  even 
tunnels  under  rivers.  They  collect  food  for  the 
community;  and  when  an  object  too  large  for 
entrance  is  brought  to  .the  nest,  they  enlarge  the 
door,  and  afterwards  build  it  up  again.  They  go 
out  to  battle  in  regular  bands ;  and  frequently 
sacrifice  their  lives  for  the  common  weal.  They 
emigrate  in  accordance  with  a  preconcerted  plan. 
They  capture  slaves.  They  keep  aphides  as  milk- 
cows.  They  move  the  eggs  of  their  aphides,  as  well 
as  their  own,  and  cocoons  into  warm  parts  of  the 
nest,  in  order  that  they  may  be  quickly  hatched. 
And  endless  similar  facts  could  be  given." 

But  I  need  not  multiply  testimony  on  this  point: 
the  list  of  witnesses  is  a»very  long  one,  and  who- 
ever wishes  to  examine  further  can  do  so.  I  have 
enough  for  my  present  purpose. 

Here,  then,  we  find  the  same  elements  of  char- 
acter, all  combined  in  man,  that  we  find  chiefly 
distributed  as  characteristic  attributes  throughout 
the  whole  lower  range  of  animal  life.  And  before  pro- 
ceeding to  explain  how  this  combination  might  take 
place,  I  wish  to  present  a  few  thoughts,  which  may 
possibly  suggest  further  inquiry  as  to  the  possible 
conditions  of  original,  or 


And  Immortality.  57 

PRIMEVAL  FORMATION. 

I  have  stated  the  opinion,  that  when  all  the 
materials  for  the  formation  of  man  were  prepared 
and  ready,  he  was  formed ;  a  complete,  perfect- 
ed man,  as  to  his  material  structure,  and  men- 
tal and  moral  capacities  and  possibilities.  And 
the  question  arises,  How  was  he  so  perfectly 
formed  at  the  outset  ? 

I  can  only  say,  certainly  and  absolutely,  that 
here  he  is,  with  both  ends  in  the  chain  of  his  be- 
ing linked  to  the  Infinite.  But  by  what  processes 
the  separate  links  were  formed, 

"  In  what  a  forge,  at  what  a  heat/ 

I  can  only  venture  an  hypothesis.  All  the  pre- 
paratory steps  were  taken  so  long  before  his  own 
formation  ;  and  as  man  was  the  last  formed  of  all 
beings,  and  so  the  great  chain  of  b«ing  was  com- 
pleted in  him  ;  and  he  himself  was  formed  so 
long  before  his  own  powers  and  capacities  were  un- 
folded to  full  self-cognition  and  the  comprehension 
of  surrounding  objects,  —  that  it  was,  and  is,  impos- 
sible to  watch  or  study  the  process  of  each  suc- 
cessive formation,  or  to  trace  out  their  steps  except 
by  dim  analogies. 

Geologists  tell  us,  and  other  scientists  agree, 
that  great  and  wonderful  changes  have  taken 
place  on  and  in  this  earth  during  the  long  ages 
past.  And  her  rent  and  tilted  rocks,  rugged 


58  The  Problem  of  Life 

mountains,  ragged  coasts  and  islands,  testify  to 
seethings,  surgings,  boilings,  upheavals,  convul- 
sions, in  her.  early  formative  periods.  And  earth- 
quake and  volcano  bear  witness  that  the  throes 
and  agonies  of  her  travails  have  not  yet  fully 
ended.  During  all  these  periods  of  labor  and  travail, 
it  is  not  unreasonable  to  believe  that  the  forma- 
tive Spirit  brooded  over,  and  wrought  order  and 
living  organic  forms  out  of  all  this  wild  chaos; 
the  development  of  successive  and  higher  forms 
keeping  pace  with  the  successive  periods  of  the 
earth's  development  and  progress  towards  matu- 
rity. 

The  doctrine  of  "  spontaneous  generation  "  is  by 
no  means  a  settled  "  canon  "  among  naturalists  ; 
merely  for  the  reason  that  they  have  not  found 
out  whether  it  is  true.  And  then,  are  we  settled 
as  to  the  meaning  of  "spontaneous,"  in  this  con- 
nection ?  If  it  means  generation  without  cause, 
it  cannot  be  true ;  but  if  it  means  generation  from 
causes  operating  within  certain  materials,  without 
the  intervention  of  exterior  material  organic  agen- 
cy, then  I  believe  it  is  and  was  true,  from  the 
beginning. 

For  if  the  doctrine  of  the  geologists  —  that  this 
earth  was  once  a  heated,  molten  mass  of  surging, 
flaming,  boiling  mineral  substances,  and,  of  course, 
too  hot  and  otherwise  unfitted  for  the  habitation 
of  any  living  being ;  and  that  it  was  not  until  its 


And  Immortality.  59 

surface  had  cooled,  and  hardened  into  a  crust,  that 
any  living  being  could  exist  on  it  —  be  true,  then 
spontaneous  generation  must  furnish  the  only  so- 
lution to  the  problem  of  the  origin  of  organic  life 
on  this  planet. 

For  it  certainly  will  not  be  contended  that  the 
germs  of  any  organic  beings  whatever  were  im- 
ported from  beyond  the  planet ;  and  so  they  must 
have  originated  upon  it,  whenever  the  necessary 
conditions  were  attained.  And  so  we  may  as  well 
decide  the  old  puzzle  here,  by  affirming  that  the 
first  hen  came  from  an  egg,  against  the  proposition 
that  the  first  egg  came  from  a  hen.  A  thing  is 
done.  It  could  have  been  done  in  this  way :  it 
could  not  have  been  done  in  any  other.  It  was,  or 
is,  done  in  this. 

I  have  shown  that  we  begin  our  works  with 
ideals,  or  mental  conceptions  ;  and  that,  in  this,  we 
but  work  after  the  Divine  methods  from  mere  in- 
tuitive imitation.  We  clothe  our  conceptions  in 
materiaj  forms.  So  does  the  First  Cause.  When  the 
surface  of  the  earth  had  cooled  and  hardened,  and 
the  active  forces  of  the  Infinite  Life  in  and  around 
it,  in  the  forms  of  light,  heat,  water,  air,  had 
eroded,  pulverized,  triturated,  and  mellowed  it  so 
as  to  form  a  protoplasm,  then  God  clothed  his  liv- 
ing conceptions  in  this  plastic  material,  —  the  sim- 
plest first ;  and  as  these  were  matured,  and  the 
basis  prepared  for  higher,  then  the  higher  and 


60  The  Problem  of  Life 

more  complex.  And  so  the  work  of  forming 
higher  and  higher  organic  beings  went  on,  until  at 
length  all  was  ready,  and  man  was  formed,  in  all 
but  his  culture  and  refinement,  as  he  is  now. 

The  conception  of  each  class  and  order  of 
beings  includes,  as  a  result  of  their  vital  activities, 
the  conception  and  transmission  of  other  beings 
like  themselves,  to  continue  and  carry  on  the 
work  of  all  succeeding  formations. 

Geology  reveals  to  us  the  fossil  remains  of  gn  at 
fish-like  saurians,  or  lizards,  which  probably  crawled 
out  of  the  slime  and  mud  of  their  primeval  forma- 
tion, filled  with  the  germs  of  other  beings  like 
themselves.  So  of  other  beings,  as  high  in  the 
scale  of  life  as  the  mammal,  whose  huge  bones 
are  preserved  in  museums  as  marvels  of  prehis- 
toric ages.  But  as  primeval  man  did  not  originate 
as  early  as  the  fossiliferous  periods,  no  remains  of 
him  can  be  found  there. 

I  know  there  are  some  who  claim  that  fossil 
remains  of  men  have  been  found,  with  those  of 
extinct  races  of  animals,  in  the  cave  of  Engis  in 
Belgium,  and  the  Neanderthal  cave  in  Germany. 
But  Mr.  Huxley,  after  a  very  careful  "  anatomical 
examination  of  the  bones,"  arrives  at  the  conclu- 
sion "that  it  was  beyond  a  doubt  that  these 
human  relics  were  traceable  to  a  period  at  which 
the  latest  animals  of  the  diluvium  existed ;  but 
that  no  proof  of  this  assumption,  nor  consequently 


And  Immortality.  61 

of  their  so  termed  ybss//  condition,  was  afforded  by 
the  circumstance  under  which  the  hones  were 
discovered."  —  Man's  Place  in  Nature,  p.  150. 

But  suppose  we  grant  that  these  bones  are  fos- 
.<;//  :  they  are  none  the  less  human  on  that  ac- 
count, and  so  it  dooe  not  follow  that  they  are  the 
bones  of  an  animal  occupying  an  intermediate 
place  between  ape  and  man.  And  this  is  fully 
admitted  by  the  same  intelligent  and  careful  in- 
vestigator farther  on.  For  he  closes  his  examina- 
tion with  this  statement  in  regard  to  the  Engis 
skull  :  "  It  is,  in  fact,  a  fair  average  human 
skull,  which  might  have  belonged  to  a  philosopher, 
or  might  have  contained  the  thoughtless  brains  of 
a  savage"  (p.  181).  And  of  the  other  he  says, 
"  The  Neanderthal  skull  is  by  no  means  so  iso- 
lated as  it  appears  to  be  at  first,  but  forms,  in 
reality,  the  extreme  term  of  a  series  leading 
gradually  from  it  to  the  highest  and  best-developed 
human  crania"  (p.  183). 

And  so  the  original  germs  of  man  may  as  well, 
ami  indeed  tin/xf,  have  been  conceived  and  unfolded 
in  the  soft  matrix  of  plastic  material,  by  his  Cre- 
ator, in  sheltered  an<l  protected  places,  surrounded 
with  all  friendly  conditions,  whoi-e  the  work  of  out- 
lining, iilling  up,  and  maturing  his  structure  was 
cofopleted;  and  he  opened  his  eyes  upon  a  work! 
of  life  and  l>ea.uiy  around  him,  and  contained  in 
himself  the  promise  and  the  fulfilment  of  all  fu- 
ture generations. 


62  The  Problem  of  Life 

Would  the  saurians  and  other  creatures  have 
eaten  him  up  ?  Nature  knows  how  to  care  for  her 
children,  until  they  can  care  for  themselves. 

Indeed,  as  all  the  qualities  of  all  heiugs  are 
derived  from  her,  the  care  of  all  parents  for  their 
young  is  bat  the  extension  and  continuation  of  the 
care  of  Nature.  She  transmits  this  care  and  devo- 
tion, through  her  first  offspring,  onward  from  gen- 
eration to  generation.  So  that  the  love  and  ten- 
derness of  parents  for  offspring  are  only  the  forms 
in  which  Nature  manifests  her  own  care  and  ten- 
derness, through  these  parental  relations.  And 
so  the  Divine  love  finds  its  most  immediate  and 
practical  expression  through  human  love. 

Do  I  mean  here  to  assume  the  possibility,  that  a 
conception  of  the  Divine  mind,  planted  in,  and 
surrounded  by,  the  fitting  plastic  materials,  with- 
out the  intervention  of  other  parent  forms,  may  be 
able,  or  ever  has  been  able,  under  natural  stimuli, 
to  outline,  fill  up,  and  mature,  a  living,  breathing, 
organic  being,  capable  of  sustaining  an  independent 
life,  and  of  planting  germs  or  conceptions  of  other 
beings  like  itself  in  other  protoplasms,  which  shall 
again  unfold,  mature,  and  so  keep  up  the  race  ? 

I  do  assume  such  possibility.  For,  in  the  first 
place,  I  see,  at  present,  no  other  way  in  which  to 
account  for  or  explain  primary  organic  formations ; 
and,  in  the  second  place,  the  analogies  of  present 
natural  genesis  support  this  assumption. 


And  Immortality.  63 

The  conceptions  of  all  living  beings,  from  low- 
est to  highest,  are  now  planted  in  such  protoplasm, 
and  so  unfold.  It  is  true,  with  the  interven- 
tion of  parent  forms.  But  the  only  possible  mode 
of  primitive  formations  shows  that  such  interven- 
tion is  not  absolutely  necessary,  but  only  conve- 
nient ;  and  also  a  means  of  developing,  cultivating, 
and  maintaining  the  highest  and  holiest  social 
relations  and  enjoyments,  which  relations  could  not 
havo  existed  prior  to  the  existence  of  living  be- 
ings. The  eggs  of  birds  and  reptiles  furnish  us 
with  the  best  illustrations.  The  contents  of  the 
shells  are  the  plastic  materials,  in  which  the  ideals, 
or  germs,  are  planted ;  the  shells  merely  serve  the 
purposes  of  protection  and  holding  the  materials 
together ;  while  in  many  fishes  and  reptiles, 
which  deposit  their  ova  in  water,  no  shell  is 
needed,  and  none  is  present,  but  only  a  delicate 
transparent  membrane. 

I  have  just  slated  that  the  fact  of  the  present 
intervention  of  parent  forms  in  the  process  of  gen- 
eration does  not  necessarily  involve  their  original 
intervention. 

We  manufacture  watches,  sewing-machines, 
&c.,  by  machinery.  We  first  employed  tools  to 
make  this  machinery.  But,  when  we  have  got  our 
machinery  in  running  order,  we  throw  our  original 
tools  aside.  So  when  all  the  vital  mechanisms  in 
the  economies  of  organic  life  are  in  complete,  sue- 


64  The  Problem  of  Life 

cessful,  and  perfect  operation,  there  is  no  need  of 
recurring  to  primeval  methods.  It  is  true  that 
our  dead  machines  cannot  reproduce  their  kind ; 
but  Nature's  living  organisms  can. 

How  could  it  he  possible  for  a  saurian  to  be 
formed  in  this  matrix  of  water,  slime,  and  mud, 
with  no  other  parent  than  brooding,  nursing  Nature, 
in  her  earlier  formative  stages,  so  as  to  live,  and 
continue  the  functions  of  a  living  being  ? 

I  assume  thab  the  process  in  his  primitive  is, 
was,  the  same,  in  all  essentials,  as  the  process  in  all 
formations  since  ;  and  is  well  illustrated  in  the  for- 
mation of  all  other  beings  now,  among  which 
the  common  fowl  gives  us  a  good  and  familiar 
example. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  contents  of  the  shell  as 
plastic  material,  or  protoplasm.  What  we  can  see, 
here,  is  albumen,  yelk,  and  germinal  vesicle,  with 
its  germinal  spot ;  and  this  "  spot "  contains, 
though  invisible,  the  conception  of  the  whole  be- 
ing ;  and  this  "  conception  "  is  the  living  idea,  or 
thought,  which  directs  and  governs  the  whole  form- 
ative process.  Under  the  stimulus  of  heat,  its 
dormant  powers  are  awakened  into  activity,  and 
the  vital  forces  in  the  protoplasm  are  set  at  work, 
the  conception  presiding  as  formative  genius,  or 
master-builder. 

And  first  an  elongated,  "  pellucid  area  "  is  drawn 
about  the  germinal  vesicle,  and  then  a  delicate 


And  Immortality.  65 

whitish  line,  or  "  primitive  trace,"  or  "  streak,"  is 
drawn  lengthwise,  partly  through  this  "  area." 
And  this  streak  tells  where  the  central  axis,  or 
back-bone,  of  the  being  is  to  be  formed.  Then, 
outside  of  this  pellucid  area,  little  cells  arrange 
themselves  in  curling  and  interlacing  lines,  all 
around  it ;  and  then  stretch  out  and  lengthen  un- 
til they  touch  each  other ;  and  then  form  into  mi- 
nute tubes,  which  are  the  rudimental  blood-vessels. 
And  soon  the  blood  begins  to  form  in  them. 
About  the  same  time  the  heart  begins  to  form,  and 
soon  unites  with  the  blood-vessels  ;-  and  the  pulsa- 
tions and  circulation  commence  in  earnest.  The 
blood-vessels  soon  ramify  and  interlace  all  over  the 
yelk,  and  the  formative  process  is  in  full  operation. 
The  head  is  formed ;  and  then  the  liinbs  push,  or 
bud  out  from  the  body,  after  the  manner  of  limbs 
from  the  trunk  of  a  young  and  growing  tree.  And 
so  the  work  goes  on,  until  the  whole  being  is  out- 
lined, filled  up,  and  completed :  and  the  contents 
of  the  shell  wrought  into  a  living,  breathing  bird, 
which  can  pick  up  and  digest  its  own  food.  And 
all  these  processes  of  development  can  go  on  as 
well  without  the  intervention  of  the  parent  as 
with  it. 

The  albumen,  fatty  matters,  all  the  materials  of 
which  this  bird  is  formed,  exist,  and  have  existed, 
in  the  storehouses  of  Nature,  from  the  first  vege- 
table formation,  outside  of  egg-shells ;  and  shells, 


66  The  Problem  of  Life 

or  even  membranous  coverings,  are  not  necessary 
to  their  existence. 

Now,  I  hold  it  to  have  been,  and  to  be,  possible, 
during  the  preparatory  stages  of  development, 
while  the  vital  machinery  of  this  earthy  laboratory 
was,  or  is,  being  made,  and  put  in  running  order, 
during  the  process  of  mixing,  compounding,  and 
preparing  its  numerous  materials,  for  the  forma- 
tive Spirit  to  accumulate  enough  of  this  albumen, 
and  other  substances,  in  fitting  place,  so  as  to  form 
protoplasm,  surrounded  by  fitting  conditions,  and 
plant  the  conceptions  therein.  And  then,  under 
natural  stimuli,  to  set  processes  in  operation,  pre- 
cisely as  in  the  case  of  the  bird ;  form  the  "  pellu- 
cid area,"  draw  the  "  primitive  trace,"  weave  the 
"vascular  area"  about  the  whole  by  the  conjunction 
of  cells,  make  and  set  the  heart  in  operation,  and 
so  outline,  fill  up,  and  complete  the  whole  struc- 
ture. And  if  a  lizard  could  be  so  formed,  so 
could  an  elephant,  and  so  could  man. 

But  we  have  never  seen  any  beings  so  formed. 
True,  we  have  not.  We  enter  a  factory,  and  see  its 
machinery  in  running  order  and  at  work.  We 
examine  it  hi  all  its  parts  and  details ;  but,  al- 
though we  see  how  the  machinery  operates,  we  do 
not  see  how  the  machinery  itself  was  made,  as  it 
was  already  made  and  in  operation  when  we  en- 
tered the  building. 

So  we  entered  this   grand  factory  of  Nature, 


And  Immortality.  67 

consciously,  as  students  and  learners,  long  after  its 
vital  machinery  was  made  and  in  operation,  and 
of  course  could  take  no  note  of  the  methods  by 
which  it  was  originally  formed.  Yet  the  forces  of 
Nature,  although  unseen  hy  us,  now,  as  at  the 
first,  keep  all  this  machinery  in  constant  operation. 
When  we  examine  the  machinery  in  a  factory,  and 
see  its  complicated  and  harmonious  action,  we 
know  that  all  this  mechanism,  through  all  its  ex- 
tent, is  helted,  geared,  or  somehow  connected  with 
a  motive-power,  although  this  power  may  he  out  of 
sight ;  and  that  if  you  cut  off,  or  withdraw  this 
power,  all  comes  to  a  stand-still. 

So  are  all  the  vast,  intricate,  and  infinitely  va- 
ried living  mechanisms  of  Nature  connected  hy 
continuous  vital  relations  with  the  great  motive- 
power  of  the  universe.  Suspend  or  sever  their 
connection  with  that,  and  all  comes  to  an  end. 
And  as  heat  or  gravitation  is,  practically,  first  and 
continued  cause  of  all  the  movements  of  the  fac- 
tory, so  is  the  Infinite  Life,  God,  first  and  contin- 
ued cause  of  all  the  phenomena  of  Nature. 

Having  ventured  these  suggestions  as  to  the 
most  probable  conditions  and  modes  of  man's  prim- 
itive formation,  let  us  now  return  to  a  further  con- 
sideration of  the  conditions  and  modes  of  his  suc- 
ceeding and  continued  formation.  And  I  wish  to 
be  understood  as  claiming  that  the  processes  here- 
in described  are  in  operation  now,  and  will  con- 


68  The  Problem  of  Life 

tinue.  And  man  will  continue  to  be  man;  and 
apes  will  continue  to  be  apes ;  and  so  of  all  the  lower 
classes  and  orders  of  beings ;  as  these  are  all  essen- 
tial elements  in  the  ultimate  compound. 

As  all  the  fibres  of  the  silk,  cotton,  wool,  can 
never  be  cloth  until  woven  into  a  fabric  through 
some  loom,  so  all  the  lives,  passions,  powers,  capa- 
cities, of  all  beasts,  birds,  reptiles,  fishes,  insects, 
can  never  form  man,  until  they  are  woven  into  one 
fabric  through  the  loom  of  his  body.  But  as  the 
constituent  elements  of  the  human  soul  are  elabo- 
rated, prepared,  and  exist  as  characteristic  qualities 
in  all  the  lower  animals,  as  ready  prepared  factors 
for  the  composition  of  man,  their  being  woven  into 
one  structure  through  one  organism  must  inevita- 
bly form  the  human  soul ;  as  such  a  composition 
could  be,  or  form,  nothing  else.  And  should 
these  animals  cease  to  exist,  and  so  cease 
to  elaborate  and  prepare  these  materials,  then 
man  himself  must  cease  to  be  formed.  Indeed,  let 
but  the  vegetable  cell,  which  draws  out  the  primi- 
tive fibre  from  the  infinite  life,  cease  its  operations, 
and  all  the  vast  and  numberless  complications 
which  follow  in  the  progressive  development  of 
man  must  come  to  an  end.  We  see  the  truth  of 
this  illustrated  in  deserts  like  that  of  Sahara. 

The  essential  qualities  in  all  organic  forms  are 
life  and  mind;  the  organism  being  merely  the 
vehicle  or  means  of  development  and  expression. 


And  Immortality.  69 

The  earth  and  its  surroundings — space — contain 
all  the  elements  of  both  mind  and  body.  The  disin- 
tegration of  any  organic  body  does  not  annihilate 
its  elements.  Nor  does  the  disintegration  of  mind, 
or  its  separation  from  organic  forms,  annihilate  its 
elements.  And  so  the  elements  of  both  continue 
to  exist  in  the  reservoirs  of  space  after  death. 
But  as  matter,  on  passing  through  organizing  and 
organic  processes,  becomes  refined,  and  fitted  for 
higher  structures;  so  life  and  mind,  in  passing 
through  organic  relations,  disintegrations  and  for- 
mations, become  fitted  for  still  higher  organic  rela- 
tions and  expressions. 

In  our  manufacturing  processes,  we  work,  as  far 
as  we  can,  after  the  example  of  Nature.  We 
build  our  great  factory  for  dealing  wholly  with 
material  things  ;  while  she  deals  chiefly  with  spir- 
itual ;  the  material  being  merely  subservient.  We 
bring  the  raw  material,  it  may  be  silk  or  cotton,  to 
our  factory.  An  observer  watching  only  the  first 
steps  sees  only  the  preparation  of  the  cocoons  for 
unreeling,  or  the  cotton  for  spinning.  These  pro- 
cesses performed,  the  silk  or  cotton  dies  out  of  its 
first  organic  relations,  is  disintegrated,  or  separated 
from  the  machinery,  and  passes  out  of  sight,  as  it 
were,  into  other  departments  of  the  building,  and 
enters  upon  other  processes  and  into  new  relations. 
And  unless  the  observer  follows  it  through  the 
various  departments  of  the  factory,  and  closely 


70  The  Problem  of  Life 

watches  its  various  progressive  stages,  he  may  won- 
der what  this  first  operation  which  he  has  seen 
may  signify.  And  he  will  not  be  able,  without 
close  scrutiny,  to  discover  the  materials  of  the  raw 
silk  or  cotton,  in  the  beautifully  woven  texture  in 
the  salesroom. 

In  following  the  materials  through  all  their 
stages,  however,  he  would  find  that  sometimes 
they  were  suffered  to  rest  awhile  in  a  passive  state 
until  wanted  for  the  next  step.  As  the  materials 
of  our  life  and  mind,  after  passing  through  the 
stages  of  preparation  in  the  organic  forms  of  lower 
animals,  may  rest  for  a  time  in  a  latent  or  passive 
state  in  some  departments  of  the  laboratory  of  Na- 
ture, until  wanted  for  higher,  and  even  the  highest 
relations. 

In  these  vital  operations  of  Nature,  we  may 
regard  organic  forms  as  the  machinery,  and  life 
and  mind  as  the  raw  materials  to  be  converted  and 
unfolded  into  the  human  soul ;  and  so  all  the  ma- 
terial, before  combination  into  the  ultimate  fabric, 
must  pass  through  these  preparatory  organic 
processes. 

So  let  us  take  life  and  mind  for  our  raw  material, 
the  earth  and  its  surroundings  for  our  factory,  and 
man  as  the  ultimate  fabric  into  which  they  are  to 
be  woven. 

.  Life  and  mind  involve  innumerable  phenomena, 
or   manifestations.      And   these  principles,   with 


And  Immortality.  71 

their  numberless  forms  of  expression,  are  wrought 
into  a  complex  fabric,  through  a  multitude  of  or- 
ganic forms  and  processes ;  from  the  simple  cell  by 
which  their  minutest  atoms  are  separated  from  the 
infinite  mass,  drawn  into  parallel"  and  cohering 
fibres,  twisted  into  threads  in  the  next  higher 
forms,  and  at  length  the  end  is  reached  in  the  or- 
.  ganic  form  of  man ;  who  is  able  to  cognize  his 
own  processes,  to  study  himself  and  other  beings, 
to  deal  with  abstract  ideas,  &c. 

In  the  progress  of  this  work,  we  do  not  see  the 
material  transferred  from  one  machine,  or  organic 
form,  to  another.  But  we  are  certain  that  the  pas- 
sage is  made ;  for  we  find  the  materials  are  the 
same,  in  whatever  organic  structure,  or  part  of  the 
great  factory,  they  may  be  found.  For  we  all 
know  that  fidelity  is  still  fidelity,  and  jealousy 
is  still  jealousy,  ambition  is  still  ambition,  cun- 
ning is  still  cunning,  and  so  on ;  whether  these 
spiritual  elements  exist  primarily,  as  peculiar,  dis- 
tinctive, and  characteristic  traits  in  the  lower  ani- 
mals, or  finally,  as  combined  and  making  up  one 
complex  being  in  man. 

The  law  which  governs  all  organic  develop- 
ments is  planted  as  a  living  idea  in  the  seed-germ. 
And  this  idea  is  not  the  starch,  sugar,  albumen, 
fat,  or  whatever  make  up  the  pulp  of  the  seed ; 
but,  as  before  stated,  a  living  thought,  which  is 
the  conception,  or  whole  plan  of  the  being  to  be 


72  The  Problem  of  Life 

formed ;  and  which  determines  whether  the  new 
being  shall  be  snail,  crocodile,  chimpanzee,  or  man. 
And  since  primeval  formations,  parent  structures 
have  deposited  these  conceptions  in  such  relations 
as  to  connect  them  with  both  the  material  and 
spiritual  elements,  elaborated  through  lower  organic 
forms,  and  necessary  to  the  formation  of  new  be- 
ings like  themselves.  So  that  this  conception,  or 
germ,  connects  every  order  of  beings  with  the 
material  prepared  by  every  order  of  beings  below 
it.  And  thus  the  germs  of  man  are  connected  by 
vital  relations  with  every  element  necessary  to 
the  complete  structure  of  his  mind  and  body. 

To  carry  the  poor  illustration  of  a  factory  —  for 
want  of  a  better  —  a  little  further,  we  may  say  the 
earth  and  atmosphere  form  the  whole  range  of 
buildings,  including  storehouses ;  life  and  mind  the 
materials  to  be  converted ;  and  all  organic  forms 
the  machinery  by  which  the  transformations  are 
made  and  the  end  is  reached ;  while  the  forces 
employed  are  the  Divine  mind  and  will.  The  pro- 
cesses are  purely  natural.  The  cell  is  the  first  and 
simplest  form  of  mechanism.  Its  office  is  to  sepa- 
rate the  primitive  atom  of  life  from  the  infinite 
mass,  elaborate  and  prepare  it  for  the  next  higher 
step. 

In  the  performance  of  this  office,  it  swells  and 
expands  by  simple  imbibation,  or  drinking  in  the 
surrounding  materials  through  its  enclosing  mem- 


And  Immortality.  73 

brane.  What  causes  this  coll  to  drink  and  ex- 
paud  ?  "  Motion,"  says  the  materialist.  What 
causes  this  motion  ?  "I  don't  know,"  he  an- 
swers. Well,  is  it  not  force  ?  And  is  not  this 
force  planted,  as  a  living  conception,  in  the  cell- 
germ,  as  the  simplest  expression  of  the  same  force 
which  causes  all  the  phenomena  of  the  universe  ? 
Then  this  cell  is  but  the  primitive  thought  of  God, 
relating  to  organic  forms  ;  and  contains  in  its  nu- 
cleus another  thought,  the  germ  of  another  cell 
like  itself,  which,  as  the  outer  form  of  this  one 
perishes,  shall  supply  its  place,  and  continue  the 
process  of  taking  up  and  preparing  raw  material. 

As  fast  as  these  cells  prepare  this  material,  their 
outer  forms  perish ;  and  so  the  elaborated  life  is 
taken  up  into  higher  organic  relations,  formed  by 
a  complex  union  of  cells,  while  the  disintegrated 
body  of  the  primitive  cell  is  ready  for  some  other 
outer  form.  And  so  on  through  the  ascending 
scale  of  life.  The  vital  elements  of  the  lower 
vegetation  unite  to  form  the  higher,  and  then 
emerge  anew  in  the  lower  forms  of  animal  life  ; 
and  so  the  work  goes  on ;  as  fast  as  the  essential 
materials  are  prepared  in  one  form  of  life,  they 
pass  from  the  machinery  or  organisms  which 
prepared  them,  and  are  transferred  to  reservoirs  in 
this  vast  laboratory,  and  then  carried  upward 
and  onward  through  other  and  higher  organic 
mechanisms,  by  these  natural  processes,  until,  aa 


74  The  Problem  of  Life 

before  stated,  they  reach  their  completed  and 
final  relations  in  the  human  soul. 

I  have  based,  and  shall  continue  to  base,  all  my 
reasonings  and  arguments  upon  the  ground  that 
life  and  mind  constitute  the  essential  elements, 
or  the  soul  of  matter.  And  that  all  essences  — 
life,  mind,  and  matter  —  are  indestructible.  Now 
a  dog,  as  we  see  him,  is  composed  of  all  three. 
Kill  the  dog,  and  you  do  not  annihilate,  but  only 
disintegrate  his  body.  And  life  and  mind  are 
absolutely  as  indestructible  as  life  and  mind,  as 
matter  is  indestructible  as  matter.  Hence  the 
life  and  mind  of  the  dog,  with  all  that  constitutes 
him  a  dog,  as  to  his  passions  and  mental  endow- 
ments, or  £he  spirit  that  barked  and  bit  and  was 
faithful  to  his  master  while  in  the  body,  continue 
to  exist  after  his  death  as  really  and  essentially 
as  before.  So  of  the  spiritual  elements  of  horse, 
toad,  ox,  beetle,  sheep,  owl,  cat,  fox,  gorilla,  and 
all  other  creatures.  The  characteristics  of  mind 
and  passion,  or  the  spiritual  elements  which  dis- 
tinguish all  these  classes  and  orders  of  beings  from 
each  other,  still  exist  after  their  death  in  the 
storehouses  of  nature  around  us.  And  their  disin- 
tegrated lives  and  minds  are  ready  and  waiting  to 
enter  into  combination  to  form  the  lives  and  minds 
of  men. 

In  the  present  state  of  knowledge,  it  is  not  wise 
dogmatically  to  affirm  any  thing  on  this  subject. 


And  Immortality.  75 

And  so  I  am  only  proposing  a  theory,  after  the 
fashion  of  th(3  day,  with  such  facts  and  reason- 
ings to  support  it  as  to  make  its  truth  to  me  even 
more  than  probable.  And  so  I  will  further  sug- 
gest the  process  of  this  combination  in  the  unfolding 
soul  of  man,  as  also  including  and  illustrating  the 
processes  in  alf  lower  beings. 

In  following  the  progressive  development  of 
organic  life,  we  have  regarded  the  organisms 
simply  as  machinery  in  this  laboratory  of  the 
earth ;  with  life  and  mind  to  be  wrought  into 
conscious,  individualized,  self-cognizing  souls;  and 
that  all  organic  forms,  so  far  as  we  know,  originate 
in  germs ;  and  that  these  germs  contain  the  idea, 
or  mind,  which  selects,  arranges,  and  in  all  things 
governs,  the  whole  process  of  development,  from 
the  lowest  to  the  highest. 

Now,  take  a  case  of  the  conception  of  a  human 
being,  and  see  what,  according  to  this  theory, 
are  the  necessary  steps  for  his  composition  and 
development;  and  we  shall  find  them  as  simple 
in  the  formation  of  the  mental,  as  they  are  in  the 
formation  of  the  physical  structure. 

The  processes  are  precisely  the  same  in  the 
development  of  man,  in  all  their  essentials,  as 
those  in  the  bird ;  with  this  difference  only,  as  to 
relations  or  conditions,  that  while  the  egg  of  the 
oviparous,  or  egg-laying  animal,  co.ntains  plastic 
material  enough  to  build  up  the  whole  new  being 


76  77/<?  Problem  of  Life 

until  it  can  breathe,  digest  its  own  food,  and  so 
maintain  an  independent  existence,  the  egg  of 
man,  and  all  viviparous  animals,  only  contains  the 
conception,  and  enough  plastic  material  with 
which  to  begin  the  organizing  process,  while  all 
the  remainder  is  prepared  and  supplied  by  the 
parent  organism.  .In  the  commencement  of 
this  process,  the  pellucid  area,  primitive  trace, 
vascular  area,  heart,  are  formed  as  in  the  bird : 
the  blood-Vessels  ramify  over  the  yelk-sack  the 
same.  Then  comes  the  variation  of  mode.  Be- 
fore the  materials  of  this  minute  egg  are  used  up, 
a  blood-vessel  is-  conducted  out  from  its  centre  by 
the  "  allantois  "  to  the  inner  surface  of  the  matrix, 
into  which  it  soon  becomes  rooted,  and  then, 
through  the  communication  thus  formed  with 
the  parent  structures,  all  the  remainder  of  the 
materials  are  supplied  for  both  mind  and  body. 

It  requires  but  a  moment's  reflection  to  satisfy 
us,  that  the  body  of  a  child  is  built  up  wholly  by 
materials  supplied  in  the  food  ingested  by  the 
mother.  Will  it  require  a  much  greater  amount 
of  reflection  to  satisfy  us  that  the  child's  mind  is 
also  built  up  by  materials  inhaled  by  the  mother 
in  the  atmosphere,  carried  through  the  same 
circulation  along  with  the  food  to  the  informing 
being,  and  so  mind  and  body  unfold  and  de- 
velop together,  under  the  direction  of  the  Divine 
thought  planted  in  the  germ  as  conception  ? 


And  Immortality.  77 

Although  the  mother  may  stamp  her  temper, 
complexion,  or  other  peculiarities,  upon  her  off- 
spring, she  retains  the  whole  quantity  of  her  own 
spiritual  as  well  as  bodily  structure  after  its 
birth  ;  so  that  the  materials  to  form  the  new  be- 
ing have  not  been  abstracted  from  her  mind  or 
body,  for  she  has  lost  nothing  in  its  formation ; 
and  so  it  must  have  been  formed  from  materials 
which  existed  outside,  and  which  merely  passed 
through  her  for  the  purpose  of  formation ;  as 
plastic  material  in  passing  through  a  mould  takes 
impressions  from  it,  but  leaves  the  mould  itself 
entire. 

As  the  child's  body  is  formed  from  materials 
in  the  food  assimilated  by  the  mother ;  so  is  its 
mind  formed  from  materials  in  the  air,  inhaled 
and  assimilated  by  the  mother. 

As  essential  to  this  theory,  I  have  assumed  the 
indestructibility  of  any  of  the  principles  of  life 
and  mind ;  and  so  the  atmosphere  all  around  this 
earth  is  stored  with  the  lives,  minds,  passions, 
which  have  been  discharged  at  their  death  from 
all  the  organic  forms  of  being  below  man,  and 
which  are  waiting  to  be  organized  into  man,  as  their 
last  and  highest  combination  and  expression,  and 
the  ultimate  end  of  their  being.  And  we  inhale 
and  exhale  these  elements  at  every  breath,  and 
they  are  carried  in  the  blood  through  the  whole 
circulation.  And  when  the  conception  of  a  human 


78  The  Problem  of  Life 

being  takes  place,  these  vital  elements  are  carried 
in  the  circulation  to  the  embryo ;  and  the  same 
force  which  there  selects  the  materials  from  the 
maternal  blood,  and  arranges  and  organizes  them 
into  the  body,  also  selects  from  the  same  fluid  the 
spiritual  materials,  and  arranges  and  organizes 
them  into  the  mind,  which  constitutes  man. 

Into  the  composition  of  man,  —  according  to 
this  theory,  —  there  must  enter  portions  of  the 
spiritual  attributes  and  characteristics  of  all  crea- 
tures below  him.  And  that  this  is  the  case,  we 
have  no  more  difficulty  in  discovering  than  we  do 
in  detecting  the  products  of  the  silk-worm,  cotton- 
boll,  or  sheep's  back,  in  any  of  our  own  woven 
textures;  for  we  everywhere  find  the  same  men- 
tal qualities  in  man  that  we  do  in  any  and  all  of  the 
lower  animals.  In  the  formative  processes  of  dif- 
ferent men,  it  will  sometimes  happen  that  one 
may  gain  a  preponderance  of  the  characteristics  of 
one  animal,  and  one  of  another.  And  in  common 
speech,  we  sometimes  designate  them  by  these 
characteristics;  saying  of  one,  "He  is  a  real 
bull-dog;"  of  another,  "hoggish;"  of  another, 
"  foxy ;  "  of  others,  "  slippery  as  an  eel ; "  "  snaku 
in  the  grass ; "  "  gentle  as  alamb  ; "  "boldas  a  linn," 
and  so  on.  Further  attention  and  thoughtfulneM 
upon  this  subject  might  make  it  plainer,  if  it  is  not 
already  plain  enough. 

In  treating  of  man's  origin  or   descent,  some 


And  Immortality.  79 

philosophers  deal  chiefly  with  the  bodily  struc- 
tures, or  the  organic  machinery  of  the  lower  or- 
ders (I  use  the  word  "  orders  "  in  a  liberal  sense) 
of  animals,  for  the  purpose  of  finding  out  their 
relationships ;  and  although  there  are  many  strik- 
ing points  of  resemblance,  they  find  them  all  sepa- 
rated by  chasms  which  they  cannot  bridge  over ; 
and  certain  links  are  wanting  by  which  to  connect 
and  complete  the  chain  of  being. 

The  object  of  a  factory,  with  all  its  complicated 
machinery,  is  to  produce  fabrics.  And  the  object 
of  the  Divine  mechanisms  of  nature  is  to  pro- 
duce fabrics  also,  —  soul  fabrics.  Suppose  these 
philosophers  should  examine  all  the  various  kinds 
of  machinery  necessary  to  convert  raw  cotton  into 
beautiful  prints,  with  little  thought  or  inquiry  as 
to  the  ends  which  all  these  numerous,  curious, 
and  complicated  machines  are  to  serve,  from  a 
cotton-gin  up  to  the  loom  and  the  printing  appa- 
ratus ;  and  though  they  might  have  a  dreamy  appre- 
hension that  all  these  various  and  apparently  .in- 
congruous machines  were  somehow  related  to  and 
dependent  on  each  other,  they  would  find  gaps 
and  chasms  between  them  which  they  could  not 
bridge  over;  and  that  certain  connecting  links 
were  utterly  wanting. 

Now,  if  they  would  look  upon'  all  this  machinery 
merely  as  means  to  an  end,  and  would  follow  the 
raw  material  to  be  converted,  through  all  its  tran- 


8o  The  Problem  of  Life 

sitions,  transformations,  combinations,  from  the 
gin  until  it  came  out  of  the  printing  machine, 
a  beautifully  finished  texture,  they  would  easily 
bridge  over  all  these  chasms,  and  find  all  these 
wanting  links. 

So  if  we  regard  all  these  living  organisms  of  Na- 
ture merely  as  machinery  in  her  grand  laboratory, 
with  life  and  mind  as  materials  to  be  converted 
and  woven  into  the  ultimate  fabric  in  human 
souls,  all  gaps  and  chasms  between  the  different 
classes,  orders,  families  of  all  animated  nature 
are  bridged  over,  and  all  connecting  links  in  the 
great  chain  of  being  are  found.  And  if  the  theo- 
ry herein  propounded  is  true,  as  the  facts  of  Na- 
ture bear  witness,  we  may  here  possibly  find  a 
solution  to  the  problem  of  man's  origin  and  descent. 

In  this  inquiry  I  have  based  my  theory  of  man's 
origin  and  formation  upon  the  ground  that  the 
separation  of  mind  from  organic  forms  does  not 
even  change  its  essence  as  mind;  and  that  con- 
sciousness is  an  essence  of  mind.  And  the  ques- 
tion arises,  How  can  the  minds  of  all  the  lower 
animals  be  compounded  into  one  structure,  so  as 
to  form  man,  and  each  one  not  carry  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  past  existence  as  an  animal  into  the 
new  structure,  and  so  create  an  utter  confusion  ? 

No  animal  can  have  the  consciousness  of  any 
animal  whatever,  until  he  is  formed  as  such.  The 
consciousness  of  a  bee,  as  to  his  instincts,  passions, 


And  Immortality.  81 

and  relations,  belong  to  him  only  as  a  bee.  Com- 
bine his  attributes  with  those  of  other  insects,  to 
make  up  a  higher  animal,  and  his  consciousness  as 
a  bee  ceases,  and  an  entire  new  consciousness  be- 
gins, which  belongs  to  the  new  animal  as  such. 
The  consciousness  of  a  dog  belongs  to  him  as  a 
dog,  as  a  separate  and  distinct  being  from  the  cat 
or  any  other  animal.  And  all  his  powers,  passions, 
and  experiences,  including  the  kicks  and  kind- 
nesses he  may  have  received,  relate  to  him  as  a  dog 
only ;  and  when  he  dies  out  of  his  body,  all  the  es- 
sences and  capacities  of  this  consciousness  remain 
in  a  latent  condition,  ready  to  be  called  into  new- 
er, fresher,  and  higher  activities,  in  new  and  high- 
er combinations  in  the  human  soul.  And  in  this 
new  combination,  it  awakens  and  begins  as  the 
consciousness  of  man,  and  relates  and  belongs  to 
him  as  man,  and  only  such.  And  were  there  any 
higher  material  organic  structure  into  which  the 
rnind  of  man  could  be  organized  in  combination 
with  other  beings,  so  as  to  form  an  order  still 
higher  than  himself,  his  death  would  in  turn  sus- 
pend and  render  his  consciousness  latent,  until  it 
was  quickened  and  revived  in  a  new  form  of  ex- 
pression in  the  higher  being. 

But  there  is  no  higher.  The  work  of  unfold- 
ing and  ascending  formations  reaches  its  ultimate 
and  fulfilment  in  mail.  And  into  him  the  ele- 
ments of  immortalized  consciousness  are  woven 


82  The  Problem  of  Life 

and  completed.  And  I  look  into  the  structure  of 
his  body,  and  think  of  its  marvellous  arrange- 
ments of  bones,  muscles,  vital  organs,  with  their 
interlacing  flexures  of  arteries,  veins,  nerves, 
lymphatics,  ramifying  through  the  whole  in  count- 
less millions ;  with  tissues  of  fibres,  which  are 
twisted,  interlaced,  and  woven  within  and  without, 
in  other  millions  also  countless ;  and  of  the  innu- 
merable millions  of  blood-cells,  lymph-cells,  which 
circulate  in  and  through  all  this  wonderful  mech- 
anism, carrying,  in  their  regular  fixed  orbits,  nu- 
trition, life,  and  power,  to  all  its  parts  ;  and  know 
that  this  infinite  complication  in  all  its  details  is 
only  secondary  and  subservient  to  man's  still  more 
wonderful  and  complicated  spiritual  being. 

And  then  I  look  out  into  the  illimitable  spaces, 
and  contemplate  whatsoever  these  spaces  reveal  to 
me,  —  suns,  stars,  planets,  nebulae,  galaxies,  con- 
stellations, —  what  seem  to  me  vast  systems  of 
worlds,  and  think  they  are  but  infinitesimal  parts 
of  the  outward  structure  or  framework  of  the  All- 
Soul.  And  planets,  stars,  suns,  constellations,  are 
only  the  minute  cells,  wheeling  and  circulating  in 
their  orbits  through  this  infinitely  complicated 
organism.  And  this  All-Soul  is  God.  And  he, 
through  a  long  succession  of  processes,  has  formed 
man,  as  his  well  and  only  begotten  Son  on  this 
planet.  For  all  other  creatures  merge  and  lose  their 
beings  in  him.  And  man  stands  in  an  outward, 


And  Immortality.  83 

organic  form,  on  the  threshold  of  an  unending 
conscious  existence ;  complete  in  all  his  capacities 
and  possibilities ;  needing  experience,  discipline, 
culture,  to  bring  all  his  powers  and  capacities  into 
harmony  with  his  own  highest  good;  with  this 
cxi>urience  and  culture  beginning  necessarily  with 
his  bodily  structure,  but  not  ending  with  it,  as  I 
shall  soon  attempt  to  show. 

And  so  this  planet  is  man's  Garden  of  Eden, 
whirli  he  must  till  and  dress,  until  it  blooms  in 
more  than  fabled  beauty,  fragrance,  and  splendor. 
Then  let  "  Earth's  mountains  be  levelled,  and  her 
seas  till  up  in  our  passage ; "  and  let  us  "  stamp 
our  footprints  into  her  hardest  adamant,"  so  that 
the  '•  last  rear  of  the  long' hosts"  of  humanity  may 
"  read  traces  of  its  earliest  van ; "  and  may  also 
know  of  a  truth  "  that  we  are  from  God,  and  to 
God." 

A  friendly  critic  says,  "  I  do  not  feel  quite 
sure,  when  you  come  to  discharging  all  the  animals 
after  death  into  circumambient  space,  whence  their 
characteristics  are  absorbed  into  the  human  organi- 
zation, and  there  vitally  reproduced  under  new 
combinations  and  conditions.  I  prefer  the  theory 
of  gradual  descent,  which  slowly  accumulated  the 
characters  of  nature,  and  brought  them  to  a 
microcosm  in  man." 

Now,  this  theory  which  my  friend  prefers  is 
precisely  the  theory  which  I  am  here  attempting 


84  The  Problem  of  Life 

to  prove.  For  these  "  characteristics  of  nature," 
which  are  "  brought  to  a  microcosm  in  man,"  are 
primarily  and  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  spiritual. 
Man  is  not  bones,  muscles,  and  viscera:  he  is  life 
and  mind,  or  feeling  and  intellect,  —  a  conscious, 
self-cognizing  soul.  And  I  am  only  trying  to  show 
how  "the  characteristics  of  nature,"  which  consti- 
tute this  soul,  have  been  "slowly  accumulated 
and  brought  to  a  microcosm,"  or  an  all-containing 
and  self-cognizing  condition  in  him,  as  the  end  of 
all  her  innumerable  processes  and  operations. 

In  connection  with  this  theory  of  man's  compo- 
sition, there  are  considerations  of  great  practical 
value.  The  qualities  of  any  compound  are  deter- 
mined by  the  qualities  of  the  elements  whfch  enter 
into  its  structure.  If  we  wish  to  make  cloth  of 
the  finest  texture,  we  select  the  finest  materials, 
whether  silk,  wool,  cotton,  cleanse  them  from  all 
extraneous  matters,  and  then  work  them  up 
through  the  best  machinery,  and  so  get  the  linrst 
fabric. 

To  apply  this  method  to  the  composition  of  our- 
selves, we  must  begin  with  improving,  not  merely 
the  physical  bodies,  but  the  mental  and  moral 
qualities,  of  all  beings  below  us.  We  must  cleanse 
and  refine  the  materials  of  which  we  are  made.  If 
the  mental  and  moral  qualities  of  all  the  animal* 
below  us  should  be  improved  as  materials,  and 
their  bodily  structures  improved  as  machinery  for 


And  Immortality.  85 

our  own  formation,  then  it  must  follow,  if  this 
theory  is  good  for  any  thing,  that  our  own  men- 
tal and  moral  qualities  and  physical  structures 
would  be  improved  also,  as  a  necessary  result. 

From  a  very  slight  glance  at  the  relations  of 
men  and  animals,  in  different  countries  and  cli- 
mates, thp  facts  to  a  considerable  extent  support 
this  theory.  And  I  throw  out  these  suggestions 
with  a  hope  that  they  may  lead  to  further  inquiry. 

In  countries,  or  parts  of  countries,  no  matter 
how  old,  whore  savage  beasts,  reptiles,  &c.,  still 
continue  to  live  and  flourish,  civilization  has  made 
but  little  progress.  Men  are  still  savages,  barba- 
rians, or  at  best  half-civilized.  And  I  think  it  will 
be  generally  observed  that  the  men  of  any  country 
partake  largely  of  the  characters  of  the  animals 
.which  live  there.  In  the  most  highly  civilized  and 
enlightened  countries,  beasts  of  prey  are  driven 
out,  or  become  extinct ;  and  even  the  dog,  cat, 
horse,  ox,  —  all  domestic  animals, — become  more 
gentle,  docile,  and  affectionate.  Pastoral  people 
are  generally  peaceable  and  orderly  people. 

Savage  men  live,  by  hunting  wild  and  savage 
beasts.  When  they  have  killed  off  all  the  wild 
beasts,  the  materials  for  forming  savage  men,  to 
an  extent,  fail ;  and  the  savage  man  himself  be- 
comes extinct,  or  turns  to  higher,  more  refining 
and  elevating  pursuits.  And  while  with  savages 
war  is  the  rule,  either  among  different  tribes,  or 


86  The  Problem  of  Life 

upon  the  lower  animals,  with  civilized  men  it  is 
the  exception.  And  among  highly  cultured  and 
refined  men,  peace  will  he  the  everlasting  law, 
and  war  will  be  unknown. 

And  in  this  connection  we  discover  the  true 
hasis  of  all  reform.  To  refer  again  to  our  illustra- 
tion. After  a  fabric  is  woven,  there  is  little  use  in 
trying  to  reform  or  improve  it.  If  its  materials 
are  crude,  and  full  of  coarse  and  unrefined  matters, 
any  attempt  to  cleanse  and  purify  it  would  only 
rend  and  tear  it  to  pieces.  So  in  regard  to  the 
evils  in  human  society.  They  are  radical,  inhe- 
rent in  the  elements  of  its  structure.  And  the 
efforts  of  reformers  to  remove  them  sometimes  re- 
sult in  upheavals,  convulsions,  and  wars ;  which 
bring  the  barbarous  elements  uppermost,  and,  to 
an  extent,  uproot  and  destroy  some  specific  form 
of  evil,  and  so  some  progress  is  made.  The  Eefor- 
mation  in  Europe,  and  the  destruction  of  slavery 
in  this  country,  illustrate  this  point. 

But  the  progress  is  slow ;  and  the  hearts  of 
reformers  and  philanthropists  are  saddened  and  dis- 
couraged. But,  taking  this  view  of  the  matter, 
they  need  not  be  so,  for  here  we  find  the  key  to 
final  and  complete  success ;  and  have  already  — 
the  Divine  wisdom,  unconsciously  to  ourselves, 
leading  us  in  the  matter  —  commenced  the  work 
of  reform,  in  improving  the  animals,  grains,  fruits, 
and  even  flowers,  by  which  we  live  and  surround 


And  Immortality.  87 

ourselves.     And  hereby  we  are   "building  wiser 
than  we  know." 

For,  if  we  would  improve  the  race  of  men,  we 
must  begin  by  refining  and  improving  the  stock  of 
which  they  are  made.  And  the  way  to  do  this  is 
by  kindness  and  gentleness  in  all  our  dealings  and 
intercourse  with  the  lower  animals.  And  we  can- 
not begin  too  low  down  in  the  scale  of  beings. 
Indeed,  the  lower  the  better,  even  if  we  begin 
with  vegetables ;  for  to  feed  upon,  and  surround 
ourselves  with,  the  best  forms  of  vegetable  life, 
makes  us  better.  And  I  hope  much  from  the  re- 
searches, inquiries,  and  investigations  of  naturalists 
in  and  among  the  lower  classes  and  orders  of  or- 
ganic life  ;  and  also  from  the  labors  of  humane  socie- 
ties, or  societies  for  the  promotion  of  kindness  to 
animals.  And  I  see  no  reason  why  these  researches 
and  inquiries  may  not  result  in  much  good  to  us,  in 
the  way  of  cherishing,  encouraging,  and  protecting 
these  vegetables,  insects,  and  other  creatures, 
which  elaborate  and  prepare  the  best  materials 
for  the  composition  of  man,  while  we  discourage, 
check,  and  root  out  those  which  only  develop  and 
prepare  the  ruder,  coarser,  and  baser  materials. 
So  that  the  fabric  of  man  may  be  at  length  woven 
of  only  the  most  cleansed  and  refined  elements. 
And  thus  cultured  man  would  become  the  instru- 
ment of  his  own  highest  culture  and  improvement. 

Having  stated  what  seems  to  me  the  most  pos- 


88  The  Problem  of  Life 

sible  and  probable  theory  of  man's  origin  an<l 
composition,  I  wish  now  to  offer  some  thoughts  on 
his  present  relations  and  surroundings ;  including, 
also,  some  reasons  for  his  inherent  and  essential 

IMMORTALITY, 

with  the  uses  of  his  material  relations  and  necessi- 
ties, and  their  bearings  upon  his  existence  in  a 
purely  spiritual  state. 

In  .ill  my  reasonings'  thus  far,  I  have  considered 
man  as  a  spiritual  being,  —  as  mind  clothed  in  a 
material  organic  form.  And  oiir  bodies  connect  us 
•with  the  world  of  matter  around  us,  as  well  as 
with  the  world  of  mind.  And  the  world  of  matter 
signals  and  acquaints  us  more  fully  with  the  world 
of  mind.  And  so  we  are  brought,  first,  into  prac- 
tical working  relations  with  the  matter  of  our  own 
bodies,  and  then  with  extraneous  matter. 

In  order  that  mind  may  act  on  matter,  and 
shape  and  fashion  it  at  will,  it  must  somehow  have 
a  practical  working  connection  with  it.  And  this 
connection  is  by  descending  gradations,  or  links, 
from  the  most  refined,  downwards  to  the  grosser. 
First  with  the  subtle  fluids  of  the  brain,  then  the 
nerves,  and  through  them  the  heavy  muscles,  and 
by  them  the  heavier  and  more  inert  bones.  So 
the  material  hand  is  able  to  grasp  material  wood, 
stone,  iron,  and  do  with  them  whatsoever  the  liv- 
ing mind  wills. 


And  Immortality.  89 

The  Lrain  is  a  soft,  pulpy  mass,  composed 
inwardly  of  very  delicate  fibres,  or  threads, 
and  outwardly  of  very  minute  vesicles  or  grains, 
and  also  of  watery  or  phosphorescent  substances, 
and  is  permeated  by  electrical  and  magnetic  fluids ; 
these  last  sometimes  called  "  vital,"  as  "  vital 
electricity "  and  "  vital  magnetism."  The  brain 
is  an  organ  of  mind,  but  is  not  itself  mind :  as 
a  flute  is  an  organ  of  music,  but  is  not  music  itself, 
but  only  an  instrument  by  which  music  is  revealed 
to  our  consciousness. 

As  the  brain  is  composed  of  these  refined  and 
siibtle  materials,  it  furnishes  a  good  connecting 
medium,  or  link,  between  mind  and  matter,  or  the 
spiritual  man  and  his  material  body ;  and,  as 
these  highly  refined  and  sublimated  fluids  are  the 
most  closely  related  of  any  materials  to  spiritual 
force,  they  serve  as  media,  through  which  mind 
acts  on  matter.  I  use  the  word  "  matter  "  here  to 
denote  that  form  of  any  substance  known  to  any 
of  our  outward  senses  ;  and  the  term  "  mind,"  to 
include  the  whole  of  our  spiritual  being. 

This  conscious,  loving,  sorrowing,  rejoicing  hu- 
man soul,  by  and  through  its  bodily  necessities 
and  relations,  -is  made  to  experience  the  strongest 
contrasts  of  pain  and  pleasure,  for  the  highest  and 
most  beneficent  purposes.  For  we  are  the  living 
emotions  and  thoughts,  the  love  and  wisdom,  of 
God,  clothed  in  outward  forms. 


90  The  Problem  of  Life 

The  architect  shapes  his  thought  in  wood,  stone, 
or  other  materials.  He  thinks  —  a  building, 
and  clothes  his  thought  in  the  corresponding  out- 
ward material  and  form.  The  machinist  thinks  — 
an  engine,  and  clothes  this  thought  also  in  the 
needed  outward  form  and  material.  But  these  are 
only  secondary  products  of  created  beings,  and 
hence  not  endowed  with  any  attribute  of  life. 
While  God,  the  First  Cause,  thinks  —  man ;  and 
clothes  his  living  thoughts  in  these  garments  of 
flesh,  whereby  they  feel  and  know  of  outward 
things,  and  are  to  be  disciplined  into  the  fulness 
of  Sonship. 

Being,  then,  detached  thoughts  or  expressions  of 
God,  —  living  essences  of  the  Divine  mind  clothed 
in  flesh,  —  we  come  to  this  conscious  existence 
with  unlimited  capacities  for  knowledge,  yet  really 
knowing  nothing,  and  so  with  every  thing  to 
learn  ;  and,  as  the  most  real  and  useful  knowl- 
edge is  experimental,  we  are  compelled  by  the 
necessities  of  our  condition  to  test  the  natures  and 
qualities  of  all  things. 

To  illustrate  :  I  am  near  the  earth's  pole  in 
•winter.  And  after  enduring  the  cold  of  this  region 
until  I  learn  how  it  can  freeze  me,  I  move  south- 
ward ;  and,  coming  into  the  temperate  zone,  soon 
feel  myself  warmed  into  life  by  the  genial  influ- 
ences of  the  sun  ;  and  how  pleasant  and  grateful 
its  warmth  is  to  me !  It  really  makes  me  feel 


And  Immortality.  91 

happy ;  and  I  call  it  good.  But,  if  I  continue  my 
journey  onward  to  the  equator,  I  find  the  sun's 
heat  so  increased  that  it  scorches  and  burns  me ; 
when,  panting  and  roasting,  I  haste  from  this 
opposite  condition  hack  to  the  temperate  zone 
again ;  having  learned  by  experience,  that  with 
not  enough  heat  I  freeze,  and  with  too  much  I 
burn.  And  both  these  states  I  call  evil :  while 
with  a  degree  of  heat  amounting  to  a  genial 
warmth  I  am  made  quite  comfortable ;  and  this 
comfort  I  call  good. 

No\v,  had  I  experienced  neither  extreme  of  cold 
nor  heat,  I  should  have  no  data,  whereby  I  could 
determine  the  state  and  qualities  of  the  mean  tem- 
perature, which  I  -call  good.  And  so  I  learn,  that 
"  good "  and  "  evil "  are  only  words  which  often 
signify  different  quantities,  or  the  mean  and  the 
extremes  of  the  same  thing ;  in  other  words,  that 
evil  is  too  little,  or  too  much,  while  good  is  just 
enough  of  a  thing. 

This  simple  lesson  in  physics  I  have  learned 
through  my  bodily  relations ;  and  without  this 
body,  and  its  out-going  and  in-coming  senses,  I 
could  not  have  learned  it.  And  so  I  get  a  hint  of 
the  uses  of  my  body.  I  am  speaking  here  as  if  I 
and  my  body  are  not  one  and  the  same  thing ; 
which,  as  already  shown  and  further  to  be  shown, 
is  true.  I  am  not  this  body,  any  more  than  the 
body  is  the  coat  which  is  wrapped  about  it.  I 


92  The  Problem  of  Life 

have  a  temporary  residence  in  this  body,  for  its 
uses.  It  is  my  primary  schoolhouse,  where,  under 
an  eminently  practical  old.-fashioned  master,  I  pk-k 
up  the  hard  and  tough  rudiments  of  an  education, 
the  higher  branches  of  which  are  to  be  studied 
in  a  body  more  refined  and  exalted,  —  of  spiritual 
and  celestial  elements,  and  relations  eternal  and 
in  the  heavens. 

Through  this  present  body,  I  am  brought  into 
contact  and  acquaintance  with  the  earth,  its  at- 
mosphere, and  what  they  contain,  —  the  elements 
and  their  changes.  And,  pupil  or  scholar  that  I 
am,  I  learn  that  certain  conditions  and  relations 
cause  pain,  and  certain  others  give  pleasure. 
And  as  I  like  the  pleasure,  and  dislike  the  pain, 
I  call  the  one  good,  and  the  other  evil ;  and  so  am 
constantly  seeking  for  one,  and  striving  to  avoid 
the  other.  And  yet,  as  already  suggested,  without 
a  knowledge  of  pain  we  could  have  no  true  appre- 
ciation of  pleasure ;  and  could  set  no  just  value 
upon  it.  Hence  the  necessity,  during  our  sojourn 
in  the  body,  of  these  opposite  conditions  of  good 
and  evil.  For  contact  and  conflict  with  evil  are 
quite  as  necessary  to  the  growth  of  a  strong  and 
noble  manhood,  as  the  indulgence  of  pleasure  or 
the  enjoyment  of  good ;  as  suffering  and  pain 
enlighten  the  understanding,  and  strengthen  and 
purify  the  affections. 

It  was  stated  just  now,  that  our  connection  with 


And  Immortality.  93 

outward  matter  is  by  gradations,  from  the  most 
refined  and  sublimated,  downwards  tp  the  grosser. 
The  finest  substances  of  the  brain  form  the  tem- 
porary seat  of  the  soul,  —  the  throne  of  the  con- 
scious me.  "  Keason  dethroned  "  means  that  the 
soul  has  lost  its  healthful  working  relations  with 
.the  brain  ;  for  it  is  through  the  brain  and  its 
outstretching  nerves,  that  the  soul  is  able  to  ex- 
ercise and  maintain  its  government  over  the  body, 
und  its  various  voluntary  functions.  If  the  brain 
or  the  nerves  are  diseased,  there  ajypear  diseased 
manifestations  of  the  soul.  We  sometimes  see  per- 
sons lost  to  all  consciousness  by  some  injury ;  as 
when  restored,  they  confess  to  having  been  dead 
to  all  impressions  during  the  syncope.  In  such 
states,  the  brain  and  nervous  system  has  been  vio- 
lently and  suddenly  shocked  into  numbness,  torpor,  • 
or  inertia,  with  all  its  mental  powers  in  a  state  of 
latency,  or  temporary  suspense,  so  as  to  hold  the 
soul  in  bonds,  as  a  powerless  prisoner,  and.  for  the 
time  being  render  all  impressions  difficult  or  im- 
possible. And,  if  the  fainting  continues,  the  soul 
bursts  its  bonds,  casts  away  its  bodily  fetters,  and 
escapes.  If  not,  it  is  restored  to  its  normal  action 
and  outward  consciousness. 

In  these  cases,  there  is  no  proof  that  the  snul 
itself  is  diseased,  but  only  its  means  of  outward 
expression.  The  soul,  or  man,  is  a  conscious 
spiritual  being,  temporarily  connected  with  a  ma- 


94  The  Problem  of  Life 

terial  body  for  the  purpose  of  education.  Now,  to 
break  or  injure  the  body  does  not  touch  the  integ- 
rity of  the  soul,  even  though  it  should  kill  the 
body,  and  destroy  its  connection  with  it. 

"  Ah !  "  said  one  to  me,  "  you  knock  a  man 
well  on  the  head,  and  there's  an  end  of  him  :  he 
knows  no  more."  Let  us  see.  You  have  a  fine 
piano  m  your  house,  its  action  complete,  its 
chords  perfect.  I  come,  and  with  a  big  hummer 
pound  it  to  pieces.  Are  the  elements  of  music,  or 
the  principles  of  harmony  and  melody,  thereby 
destroyed  ?  Or  would  the  destruction  of  all  the 
instruments  in  the  universe  in  the  least  affect 
these  principles  ?  What  if  we  cannot  hear  music 
through  the  material  ear  without  a  material  in- 
strument :  does  it  therefore  not  exist  ?  Its  ele- 
ments and  principles  existed  from  eternity ;  and 
instruments  only  serve  to  organize  them  in  out- 
ward forms,  and  so  make  them  audible  through  the 
external  ear. 

Now,  as  the  elements  of  music  exist  in  the 
nature  of  things,  and  instruments  only  serve  to 
organize  and  give  them  outward  expression ;  and 
as  breaking  the  instrument  does  not  destroy,  or 
cause  the  slightest  change  in  one  of  its  principles; 
so  the  living  entity  man  exists  in  the  nature  of 
things,  only  more  deepl}',  as  an  element  of  the 
divine  life,  in  the  mind  and  heart  of  God,  and 
so  is  himself  essential  with  God.  And  as  the  body 


And  Immortality.  95 

is  only  an  instrument  through  which  man  ex- 
presses himself  outwardly,  and  is  related  to  mate- 
rial things,  to  destroy  the  body  does  not  in  the 
least  aft'ect  the  existence,  but  only  the  relations,  of 
man. 

But  man  is  more  than  music.  Man  is  a  living, 
conscious,  emotional  being ;  while  music  is  only  au 
unconscious  relation  of  things.  Now,  if  destroy- 
ing the  musical  instruments  cannot  possibly  de- 
stroy those  relations  of  tones  to  degrees  whirh 
are  the  basis  of  music,  can  it  be  that  destroying 
a  man's  body  will  annihilate  him  as  a  living  soul  ? 

At  this  point  I  am  met  with  the  following  ob- 
jection, from  one  who  read  this  work  in  manu- 
script :  — 

"  I  do  not  think  your  illustration  of  the  piano 
will  stand  fire.  If  a  man  gets  smashed,  there's  an 
end  of  him,  the  materialist  says.  You  reply,  No. 
Does  music,  does  the  law  of  harmony,  come  to  an 
end  when  somebody  smashes  a  piano  ?  Certainly 
not.  .  .  .  The  question  is,  does'  the  individual 
man  continue?  He  may  have,  while  living,  only 
been  an  instrument  to  set  forth  some  universal 
life,  as  a  piano  is.  The  individual  piano  ceases  to 
exist :  it  can  never  subserve  harmony  again.  The 
question  is,  Can  the  man  subserve  vitality  again  ?  " 

My  critic  makes  a  fatal  mistake  in  regarding  a 
human  body  as  a  man.  He  tells  us  the  piano  is  an 
instrument  to  set  forth  music.  That  is  in  essence 


96  The  Problem  of  Life 

what  I  have  said  in  my  illustration ;  and  I  have 
said  further,  that  a  man's  body  —  to  use  my 
friend's  language  —  is  "  only  an  instrument  to 
set  forth  "  a  conscious,  individualized  form  of  the 
"  universal  life."  Now,  as  my  friend  admits  that 
neither  music  nor  the  law  of  harmony  comes  to  an 
end  when  somebody  "  smashes  a  piano,"  is  he  not 
forced  by  the  same  process  of  reasoning,  or  logic, 
to  the  conclusion  that  a  man  does  not  come  to  an 
end  when  his  body,  or  instrument,  is  "  smashed  "  ? 

Music  is  the  unconscious  soul  of  its  organism, 
whether  a  piano  or  other.  A  man  is  the  conscious 
soul  of  his  organism.  And  the  man  exists,  after 
having  become  a  man,  —  for  he  is  not  a  man  until 
he  exists  as  such  consciously,  —  after  his  body  is 
destroyed,  as  certainly  as  music  exists  after  the 
destruction  of  any  or  all  of  its  instruments. 

Nor  should  my  friend  be  so  sure  that  the  piano 
"  can  never  subserve  harmony  again  ;  "  nor  ask  so 
doubtingly —  "Can  the  man  subserve  vitality 
again  ?  "  For  he  knows,  and  no  man  better  than 
he,  that  the  whole  structure  of  the  piano  can  be 
resolved  into  its  original  elements,  and  again  re- 
formed by  the  operations  of  nature,  and  made  to 
subserve  harmony  again.  In  such  a  case  the  prin- 
ciples of  music,  the  laws  of  harmony,  remain  un- 
changed ;  the  instrument  alone  is  affected. 

So  a  man's  body  (which  he  mistakes  for  the 
man),  can  be  and  is  disintegrated  by  the  same 


And  Immortality.  97 

processes,  and  made  to  serve  various  forms  of 
vitality,  including  human  life,  again  and  again ; 
while  the  man  himself  remains  as  little  affected 
by  these  organic  changes,  as  the  law  of  harmony 
does  when  a  piano  is  smashed. 

I  have  shown  that  matter  is  subjected  to  mind, 
and  is  its  subordinate  and  inferior ;  being  used  by 
mind  to  externalize  its  own  conceptions.  Mind  is 
active  power :  matter  is  passive  subject.  Now,  the 
great  essential  property  or  attribute  of  mind  is 
consciousness,  or  knowledge  of  self.  Mind,  then, 
cannot  exist  in  normal  wakefulness  without  con- 
sciousness ;  nor,  hence,  without  pain  or  pleasure, 
or  both.  It  is  true,  that,  while  clothed  in  material 
organic  forms,  conscious,  mental  or  physical,  activ- 
ity wastes  these  organisms ;  and  so  this  conscious- 
ness, as  to  material  relations,  must  be  suspended, 
while  other  modes  of  vital  activity  repair  this  waste, 
as  in  sleep. 

Nevertheless,  you  may  change  the  relations  of 
mind  to  outward  forms  as  you  will.  You  may 
"  knock  a  man  on  the  head  "  to  your  heart's  con- 
tent ;  until,  as  you  say,  you  have  knocked  all  the 
sense  out  of  him.  You  have  only  knocked  him 
out  of  his  body ;  but  you  have  not  destroyed  the 
living  mind,  nor  a  single  one  of  its  attributes. 
Xor  is  it  any  more  unseen  than  before;  although 
it  may  no  longer  make  signs  t»  us  through  a  visi- 
ble organism. 


98  The  Problem  of  Life 

Says  another,  "  Have  you  not  observed  that  in 
cases  of  disease  or  age,  as  the  body  wastes  away 
the  mind  fails  along  with  it,  and  both  keep  pace 
in  their  decay,  and  perish  together  ?  " 

I  have  frequently  observed  what  appears  so. 
But  the  most  skilful  player  will  discourse  very  bad 
music  on  a  rickety  old  instrument,  with  the  strings 
half  broken,  and  the  other  half  out  of  tune.  Give 
him  a  good  instrument,  and  you  shall  have  good 
music.  Now,  the  body  is  man's  instrument, 
whereby  he  plays  or  acts  upon  material  things; 
and  as  the  best  musician  could  make  but  a  sorry 
display  of  his  powers  upon  a  broken-down  instru- 
ment, so  the  most  brilliant  and  powerful  mind 
could  make  little  better  than  insane  or  idiotic 
manifestations  through  a  diseased  body  and  brain. 

A  sceptical  friend  said,  "You  cannot  prove 
immortality  by  a  mathematical  demonstration." 

What  is  "  a  mathematical  demonstration,"  but  a 
mental  or  spiritual  process,  whereby  we  ascertain 
the  definitions  and  limitations  of  certain  prob- 
lems, truths,  or  ideas,  and  find  out  their  relations, 
either  to  itself  or  to  matter,  and  which  process,  as 
De  Quincey  says,  "  has  not  a  foot  to  stand  upon, 
which  is  not  purely  metaphysical  ?  " 

The  mind  which  performs  this  process,  solves 
these  problems,  and  understands  these  truths  and 
their  relations,  is  itgelf  "mathematical,"  else  it 
could  neither  perform  nor  understand  them  ;  and 


And  Immortality.  99 

proves  its  own  immortality  in  the  process.  For 
s  as  these  mathematical  truths  are  immortal,  so 
must  the  mind  be  which  demonstrates  them.  In 
order  to  demonstrate  any  truth  or  problem,  the 
mind  must  contain  such  truth  or  problem  ;  and  so 
must  be  fully  equal,  if  not  superior  to  it,  as  to  all 
its  characteristics.  And  hence  it  must  be  equally 
imperishable.  And,  as  truth  can  never  disintegrate 
and  perish,  so  is  it  impossible  for  mind  which 
demonstrates  truth  to  disintegrate  and  perish. 
And,  as  the  mind  is  conscious  of  this  truth  and 
its  demonstration,  so  must  this  consciousness  be  as 
eternal  as  the  truth  itself. 

\Ve  hear  it  said,  "  Whatsoever  had  a  beginning 
must  have  an  end."  Let  us  see  how  this  applies 
to  secondary  products,  as  of  our  own  minds. 

I  have  referred  to  an  engine,  as  the  clothing  of 
a  man's  idea  or  conception  in  outward  substance, 
as  of  iron,  for  temporary  use.  Now,  the  idea  of 
the  engine  is  the  basic  fact  in  the  case.  The  iron 
in  which  it  is  clothed  may  be  battered  and  bent, 
and  then  restored  and  straightened  again  to  con- 
form to  the  idea.  Even  in  case  of  alteration  and 
improvement,  the  original  idea  still  exists  ;  as  defi- 
nite ideas  once  conceived  must,  eternally,  their 
outward  forms  alone  being  perishable.  If  this 
idea  always  did  exist,  then  it  can  never  have  an 
end.  But  if  this  idea  was  born,  and  had  a  begin- 
ning as  a  human  thought,  there  can  be  no  end  to 


loo  The  Problem  of  Life 

its  continuance.  For  if  all  outward  forms  of  it 
should  perish  from  the  earth,  this  idea  may  be 
again  revealed  to  men's  minds,  and  clothed  and  re- 
clothed  in  outward  forms,  onward  indefinitely. 

So,  with  our  present  state  of  knowledge,  we  can- 
not say  with  certainty  that  any  thing,  except  out- 
ward forms,  ever  had  a  beginning.  Certainly  the 
essences  of  things  never  had,  but  only  the 
forms  and  relations  of  things.  But  granting  that 
man  had  a  beginning,  and  was  born  as  a  living, 
conscious  idea  or  conception  of  the  great  First 
Cause,  and  is  clothed  in  outward  substance  for 
temporary  use ;  this  Divine  idea  of  man,  in  all  its 
vital,  emotional,  and  conscious  integrity,  must  still 
live,  after  its  outward  clothing  shall  be  cast  away, 
as  surely  as  his  own  ideas  remain  after  their  own 
material  symbols  have  perished. 

While  man  is  able  to  adapt  organic  forms  to  the 
forces  and  elements  of  Nature,  he  cannot  create 
any  thing ;  and  when  he  adapts  an  organ  to  music, 
a  mill  to  wind  or  water,  an  engine  to  steam,  a 
clock  to  gravitation,  he  does  not  create  music,  or 
any  of  these  elements  or  forces.  They  existed  prior 
to  the  machines,  and  will  continue  to  exist  in  equal 
quantity  after  their  decay  ;  as  the  organisms  only 
adapted  them  to  incidental  and  temporary  uses. 

So  is  it  with  life  and  mind.  They  are  no  more 
dependent  upon  organic  forms  for  their  existence, 
than  the  wind  is  upon  a  mill,  music  upon  an  organ, 


And  Immortality.  101 

steam  upon  an  engine,  or  gravitation  upon  a  clock. 
And  yet  all  these  may  be  only  forms,  in  which 
the  universal  Soul  expresses  itself;  and  so  are 
only  unconscious  instruments  of  its  power,  and 
of  themselves  are  without  life  or  consciousness. 
As,  when  I  handle  saw  or  axe,  these  are  forms  of 
my  expression,  and  are  not  forces  in  themselves, 
but  only  unconscious  instruments  of  my  force  ;  and 
when  the  universal  Soul  expresses  itself  through 
wind  or  gravitation,  these  forms  of  expression 
have  no  more  consciousness  than  a  tool  in  my 
hands.  And  when  man  adapts  an  organism  to 
these  expressions,  having  neither  life  nor  conscious- 
ness in  themselves,  nothing  is  gained  for  them  in 
the  way  of  knowledge  or  experience ;  and  when 
the  organisms  are  destroyed,  they  remain  as  before. 
But  when  the  same  universal  Soul  organizes 
an  atom  of  its  own  essence  into  a  human  form,  it 
had  life  and  consciousness  at  the  beginning,  it  has 
them  continued,  with  this  added  difference  in  the 
continuance,  that  whereas,  before,  these  attri- 
butes were  included  in  the  universal  life  and  con- 
sciousness, and  sa  could  have  no  distinctive  per- 
sonal existence  as  man,  a  new  being  is  formed, 
which  now  has  an  individualized  existence,  life 
and  consciousness  of  its  own.  And  this  individu- 
ality is  developed,  strengthened,  and  matured  by 
all  the  experiences  of  this  life  in  the  body.  And, 
when  the  body  is  destroyed,  this  individual  life  can 


1O2  The  Problem  of  Life 

never  again  lapse  into  and  lose  its  separate  exist- 
ence and  consciousness  in  the  universal  Life  ;  for  the 
reason  that  the  individual  experience  and  con- 
sciousness thus  gained  are  established  facts,  and 
must  so  remain,  with  the  capacity  for  increasing 
growth  and  development  forever. 

The  currents  of  a  river  may  flow  on  for  a  dis- 
tance, and  a  small  stream  may  branch  off  and  run 
away  in  a  channel  of  its  own  ;  but  the  individual 
stream  thus  formed  gains  nothing  in  the  way  of 
knowledge  or  understanding ;  and  may  return  and 
lose  itself  in  the  parent  stream,  with  no  memory  of 
its  separation. 

But  a  company  of  men  may  be  so  related  on  ship- 
board, in- an  army,  or  caravan,  as  to  have  a  public 
experience,  which  is  the  same  in  all ;  but  let  one 
separate  from  the  company,  and  go  out  into  an  in- 
dependent life,  and  he  gains  an  individual  experi- 
ence and  knowledge,  which  become  a  part  of  his 
consciousness  ;  and  this  new  individual  conscious- 
ness is  his  forever.  And  he  can  never  lose  it  by  re- 
turning to,  and  mingling  again  with  his  company. 

So  when  a  human  soul  is  unfolded  into  individ- 
ual life,  the  experiences  of  that  life  are  fixed  in 
his  memory  and  consciousness  forever.  And  were 
it  possible  to  return  again,  and  mingle  with  the 
universal  Soul,  the  memory  of  that  experience  can 
never  be  annihilated.  For  if  such  annihilation  is 
possible,  the  universe  itself  may  be  extinguished. 


And  Immortality.  103 

Life  and  mind  are  the  highest  of  all  forces  ;  and 
if  the  doctrine  of  the  "  conservation  of  force  "  is 
true,  then  these  elemental  forces  are  not  lost  on 
being  separated  from  organic  forms,  hut  are  still 
extant  in  space,  ready  to  be  revealed  in  new  forms. 

And  so  the  doctrine  of  "  conservation  of  force  " 
gives  us  a  further  illustration  of  immortality ;  for 
memory  is  a  positive  force,  as  without  it  we 
could  never  fully  perfect  any  of  our  plans.  Every 
step  we  take,  from  and  after  the  first,  in  the  con- 
ception and  execution  of  any  work  or  device,  must 
relate  to,  and  depend  upon,  the  steps  which  pre- 
ceded it.  If  in  building  a  house,  after  laying  the 
foundation,  I  should  forget  all  about  it,  I  should 
go  to  work  and  lay  it  over  again ;  and  as  often  as 
I  had  forgotten  what  was  already  done,  I  should 
begin  my  work  anew.  Hence  memory  is  essen- 
tial to  all  progressive  life;  and  if  the  philosophers 
will  insist  that  what  is  called  mere  "physical 
force,"  once  exerted,  sends  an  impulse  and  an  influ- 
ence through  eternity,  and  never  ceases  its  action, 
in  some  form,  and  so  is  never  lost,  will  they  at  the 
same  time  deny  that  life-force,  mind-force,  includ- 
ing memory,  —  which  are  the  cause  of  all  physi- 
cal phenomena,  —  are  equally  imperishable  ?  If 
not  perishable,  then  we  must  carry  the  memory  of 
our  past  into  our  future. 

I  offer  but  one  other  special  consideration  on 
this  head. 


IO4  The  Problem  of  Life 

The  pyramids  of  Egypt,  St.  Peter's  Church,  and 
other  great  human  structures,  are  built  up  by  the 
aid  of  surrounding  stagings.  When  the  buildings 
are  finished  the  stagings  are  .removed,  while  the 
structures  themselves  remain.  This  is  man's  wis- 
dom, which  is  only  derived  and  secondary. 

Now,  man  is  the  ultimate  living  fabric,  which 
God  builds  up  through  long-continued  natural,  and 
so  primary  processes ;  and  all  the  organic  forms 
through  which  the  material  is  prepared,  including 
his  own  body,  may  be  regarded  as  stagings,  used 
as  temporaiy  means  in  building  up  his  spiritual 
structure.  If  merely  pulling  down  the  stagings 
is  to  annihilate  man's  consciousness,  then  indeed 
can  no  human  folly  be  found  to  match  that  of  the 
Architect  of  Nature. 

For  all  the  long  generations  past,  and  all  the 
long  generations  to  come,  are,  and  shall  be,  as  if 
they  had  never  Been,  —  annihilated  all ;  and 
so  had  better  never  have  been,  and  never  to  be. 
For  every  soul  of  these  millions  of  biHions  of  hu- 
man beings  has  been,  and  will  be,  filled  with  unsat- 
isfied desires ;  cravings  for  good  to  come  ;  unat- 
tained  hopes  and  aspirations,  growing  out  of  an 
instinctive  feeling  of  unfulfilled  being,  as  if  in- 
wrought by  our  Creator  as  essences  of  human  life, 
and  containing  the  prophecy  of  immortal  existence, 
only,  on  this  theory  of  the  annihilation  of  individ- 
ual consciousness,  to  be  blasted  forever.  All  of 


And  Immortality.  105 

which  involve  a  supposition  of  such  infinite  folly 
and  wickedness,  that  I  will  not  waste  time  in  ar- 
guing against  it. 

RELATIONS    OF   MAN   TO   THE   UNIVERSE. 

Having  presented  what  to  me  are  sufficient  and 
satisfactory  reasons  for  man's  inherent  and  essen- 
tial immortality,  let  us  further  consider  his  rela- 
tions to  the  universe  of  mind  and  matter  about 
him,  with  their  disciplinary  and  educational  uses. 

I  have  spoken  of  active  force  as  being  hidden, 
except  in  its  manifestations,  from  outward  sense. 
The  attraction  which  keeps  this  earth  a  compact 
mass,  and  holds  it,  with  all  the  heavenly  bodies,  in 
their  places  ;  and  that  all-wise  and  all-powerful 
concep'tive  and  constructive  energy  which  is  con- 
stantly working  up,  from  these  reservoirs  in  soil 
and  atmosphere,  all  the  living  forms  which  people 
both,  which  — 

"  Lives  through  all  life, 
Extends  through  all  extent, 
Spreads  undivided, 
Operates  unspent," 

is  wholly  unperceived  by  any  of  our  outward 
senses.  The  Infinite  Living  Spirit,  the  Universal 
Soul,  is  forever  clothing  itself  in  external  forms; 
and  we  are  made  acquainted  with  its  powers  and 
operations  through  these.  So  this  solid  earth, 
and  all  the  heavenly  bodies,  with  all  they  contain, 


io6  The  Problem  of  Life 

are  only  symbols  of  this  living  Spirit.  And  while 
clothing  itself  in  these  wonderful  draperies,  it  may 
well  chant  its  grand  melody  in  words  so  fitly  cho- 
sen by  a  wise  German  poet. 

"  In  beings'  floods,  in  actions'  storms, 
I  walk  and  work, 
Above,  beneath. 

Work  and  weave  in  endless  motion, 
Birth  and  death 
An  infinite  ocean, 
A  seizing  and  giving 
The  fire  of  the  living. 
'Tis  thus  at  the  roaring  loom  of  time  I  ply, 
And  weave  for  God  the  garment  thou  seest  him  by." 

Thus,  as  above  stated,  the  whole  outward  uni- 
verse may  be  regarded  as  a  visible  manifestation 
of  Deity,  "  the  garment  of  God."  This  whole 
illimitable  universe  is  animated  and  kept  in  con- 
stant action  by  one  Soul,  as  our  bodies  are  ani- 
mated and  kept  in  motion  by  our  souls.  Now,  this 
Infinite  Soul  is  constantly  clothing  its  finite  ideas 
or  conceptions  in  outward  living  forms,  in  the  man- 
ner and  for  the  purposes  already  described. 

The  highest  of  these  conceptions,  or  that  which 
approximates  nearest  the  Infinite,  is  man.  The 
Infinite  is  God.  Man  is  then  the  product  and  off- 
spring of  God ;  and  so  partaker,  in  a  limited  form 
and  degree,  according  to  his  capacity,  of  all  the 
powers  and  attributes  of  his  Creator.  These  pow- 
ers and  attributes  in  man  are  all  embryonic. 
They  are  to  develop  and  unfold,  be  educated  and 


And  Immortality.  107 

cultured,  in  and  through  this  body,  to  a  state  of 
divine  consciousness,  until  he  feels  and  knows 
something  of  his  infinite  relationships. 

This  culture  and  discipline,  as  already  stated, 
can  only  be  attained  through  experience.  Man 
must  work  out  and  demonstrate  his  own  highest 
good.  And,  that  he  may  do  this  well,  the  Creator 
has  given  him  his  primary  existence  here  in  a 
material  body ;  clothed  him  in  flesh,  and  so  sub- 
jected him  to  the  laws  of  gross  matter,  that  he 
may  first  test  and  learn  the  conditions  of  lower 
existence,  and  through  these  ascend  to  a  knowl- 
edge and  enjoyment  of  the  higher.  First  he  is 
related  to  the  material  and  temporal ;  then  to  the 
spiritual  and  eternal. 

Through  the  outward  eye  we  see  only  those 
opaque  objects  which  reflect  light;  with  the  mate- 
rial hand  we  touch  and  handle  the  same.  The  out- 
ward ear  acquaints  us  with  an  endless  variety  of 
sounds.  And  so  on,  with  all  our  sensual  organs. 
They  bring  us  into  practical  working  relations 
with  air,  water,  soils,  rocks,  all  the  materials  of 
which  our  bodies  are  composed ;  and  at  the  same 
time  the  body  serves  as  a  barrier  to  wall  us  out 
from  that  boundless  world  of  life  and  power  from 
which  we  are  only  separated  by  this  thin  vail  of 
flesh  ;  and  which  is  altogether  too  sublime  for  our 
comprehension,  until  we  have  first  mastered  the 
rudiments  of  life  here  in  the  body.  The  body, 


io8  The  Problem  of  Life 

being  material,  roust  yield  to  the  laws  of  matter ; 
and  so  the  force  of  gravitation  holds  it  fast  to  the 
earth ;  and  through  the  body  and  its  relations,  the 
sensitive  soul  is  compelled  hy  the  necessities  of  its 
conditions  to  learn  these  primary  lessons,  upon 
which  all  true  knowledge  of  the  spiritual  state  is 
based. 

I  have  said  we  begin  our  conscious  existence  in 
utter  ignorance.  We  know  neither  good  nor  evil ; 
and  hence  must  learn  the  material  and  moral  dif- 
ferences in  things  by  experience  and  observation. 
The  material  first,  and  then  the  moral  and  spirit- 
ual. We  must  have  demonstration.  As  bodily 
health  and  enjoyment  are  dependent  on  certain 
material  conditions,  and  departure  from  these  re- 
sults in  disease  and  suffering,  so  spiritual  health 
and  enjoyment  are  dependent  on  certain  spiritual 
conditions,  and  departure  from  these  conditions 
as  surely  results  in  suffering  to  the  soul.  And  .yet, 
as  before  stated,  without  this  suffering  we  could 
have  no  true  standard  of  enjoyment. 

The  youthful  inheritor  of  wealth  finds  himself 
environed  with  comforts  and  blessings,  without 
any  standard  by  which  he  can  determine  their 
value,  as  he  knows  nothing  of  the  labor  and  toil  and 
pains  by  which  they  were  produced.  Nor  until  he 
is  stripped  of  them  all,  and  feels  the  hard  hand  of 
necessity  pressing  upon  him,  and  is  driven  by 
the  whip  of  that  necessity  to  toil  for  pittance 


And  Immortality.  109 

of  the  goods  he  has  squandered,  can  he  know  the 
real  value  of  what  he  has  lost. 

He  only  can  know  the  real  and  practical  height 
of  a  mountain,  whose  feet  have  scaled  all  its  rug- 
ged cliffs,  from  its  lowest  base  upward  to  its  loftiest 
peak.  And  as  no  man  can  know  true  exaltation 
until  he  has  first  been  deeply  abased,  so  none  can 
comprehend  the  full  measure  of  heavenly  joy  until 
he  has  first  felt  the  sharp  pangs  of  suffering  and 
woe. 

I  am  not  speaking  here  and  now  of  wilful  and 
malignant  wrong  against  fellow-beings ;  for  as 
Nature's  laws,  which  are  God's  methods,  are 
alike  inexorable  in  all  relations,  the  judgment  and 
condemnation  against  such  are  sure  and  unerring, 
and  all  must  reap  and  eat  the  bitter  harvests  of 
their  own  sowing.  And  so  I  am  only  explaining 
the  necessity  of  the  contrasts  which  the  operations 
of  nature  everywhere  present,  but  especially  in 
the  life  and  relations  of  man,  —  lessons  of  which 
were  taught  us  centuries  ago. 

Lazarus,  at  the  rich  man's  gate,  clad  in  rags, 
full  of  sores,  with  the  dogs  of  the  street  for  his  only 
consolers,  is  thence  transported  upwards1,  to  the 
arms  of  an  exalted  and  re-posing  faith.  While 
Dives,  clad  in  purple,  faring  sumptuously  every 
day,  and  spurning  the  poor  beggar  from  his  pres- 
ence, finds  himself  hurled  down  to  a  state  of  abase- 
ment and  suffering  far  beneath  that  from  which 


no  The  Problem  of  Life 

« 

his  despised  brother  has  just  been  released.  And 
what  is  the  answer  of  this  calm  faith  to  the  plead- 
ings of  the  once  proud,  but  now  humbled  and 
suffering  soul  ?  It  is,  in  substance,  "  Son,  be 
patient,  and  learn  your  lesson  last,  as  Lazarus  did 
his  first."  Now,  this  fable,  as  above  stated,  is 
founded  in  the  eternal  philosophy  and  fitness  of 
things. 

'To  apply  this  law  to  him  who  has  never  known 
conflict  with  poverty  or  suffering,  either  for  him- 
self or  another,  but  who,  born  in  the  lap  of  afflu- 
ence and  luxury,  in  the  midst  of  ease  and  comfort- 
taking,  is  borne  along  on  the  currents  of  favorable, 
circumstances  to  the  pinnacles  of  material  wealth 
and  honor,  and  has  "waxed  fat,"  and  is  "resting  on 
his  lees,"  full  of  pride  and  self-importance,  —  shall 
he  ride  thence  through  the  "  pearly  gates '  of 
heaven,"  and,  rattling  over  its  "  golden  pave- 
ments "  in  a  coach  and  four,  with  liveried  footmen, 
be  at  once  ushered  into  the  enjoyment  of  its  sub- 
lime and  glorious  beatitudes  ? 

He  has  no  true  knowledge  of  his  earthly  condition 
and  relations,  and  could  not  possibly  comprehend 
his  heavenly,  without  the  basis  of  practical  demon- 
stration. And  as  Lazarus  —  innocent  poverty  an d 
distress  —  got  his  experimental  knowledge  while 
in  the  body,  Dives  —  heartless  wealth  and  ease- 
taking  —  must  get  his  after  he  passes  out  of  it. 
So  down,  down,  into  the  deep  valley  of  huinilia- 


And  Immortality.  in 

tion  shall  he  first  go ;  and  entering  its  dark 
shadows  of  death,  in  the  midst  of  its  dim  and 
spectre-haunting  solitudes,  alone  and  for  himself 
shall  he  confront  its  grisly  horrors,  and  do  battle 
with  its  grim  devils ;  until  he  triumphs  over  all 
evil  or  suffering  conditions,  and  the  good  within 
him  becomes  uppermost  and  controlling.  And 
thence  emerging,  seamed  and  scarred  with  the 
warfare,  —  in  his  memory  and  consciousness,  — 
shall  he  begin  slowly  to  ascend  the  grand  and 
magnificent  heights  of  a  true  spiritual  exaltation ; 
having  learned  in  his  deep  humiliation  the  true 
standard  by  which  to  measure  every  step  of  prog- 
ress in  his  ascending  life. 

Thus  "  out  of  weakness  are  we  made  strong," 
and  "perfected  through  suffering,"  until  we  "be- 
come as  gods,  knowing  good  and-  evil.''  Such  are 
the  conditions  of  ascension  to  this  divine  estate. 
Blessed,  thrice  blessed,  are  they  who  attain  to  this 
estate  while  in  tins  bodily  life.  For,  to  all  such, 
ilcatli  has  lost  its  sting,  and  the  grave  its  victory. 
And  so  the  true  resurrection  is  accomplished. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  I  am  now  running 
wildly  about  in  the  regions  of  empirical  enthusi- 
asm. But  the  spiritual  and  moral  processes  here 
described,  are  really  founded  in  nature,  and  we 
practise  them  iu  art.  For  to  these  processes  we 
subject  all  crude  and  impure  materials  destined  to 
a  higher  use.  We  put  crude  ore  into  the  furnace, 


112  The  Problem  of  Life 

and  then  under  the  hammer,  until  the  dross  is 
burned,  melted,  and  beaten  out  of  it.  By  the  fire 
and  the  hammer  we  bring  forth  at  length  the 
true  "Damascus  blade." 

So  in  "nature,  all  fruits  are  ripened  by  slow,  step- 
by-step  processes.  First  the  sour,  acrid,  immature 
states  of  early  summer ;  the  heats  and  dews  and 
rains  of  which  develop  and  strengthen  all  their 
qualities.  Then  come  the  chilling  winds  and 
nipping  frosts  of  autumn,  which  soften,  mellow, 
and  render  them  nutritious. 

And  so  with  the  passions  of  the  human  soul :  as 
a  natural  result  of  its  elementary  formations,  it 
is  composed  of  the  discordant  passions  of  all  lower 
beings,  and  so  is  burdened  and  clogged  with  the 
dross  and  filth  of  self-love,  and  is  green,  sour,  and 
acrid  with  lustful  affections,  and  hence  must  be 
harmonized,  mellowed,  and  sweetened.  And  here 
we  discover  the  divine  methods  of  discipline, 
culture,  and  maturity. 

The  new-born  child  can  neither  feel  nor  know 
the  wants  of  another.  He  feels  his  own,  and 
eagerly  clutches  at  whatever  he  thinks  will  satisfy 
them.  And  it  sometimes  happens  that  another 
child  as  eagerly  clutches  at  the  same  thing.  Then 
a  contest  follows  ;  and  in  the  contests  and  strug- 
gles of  maturer  life,  each  learns  that  the  other  has 
wants  and  necessities,  as  well  as  himself.  And 
both  are  compelled  to  bear  the  cross  of  self-denial, 


And  Immortality.    .  113 

and  at  the  same  time  to  learn  some  of  the  pri- 
mary rules  of  secial  science.  Thus  early,  even  in 
infancy,  do  the  fire  and  the  hammer  of  the  Divine 
administration  begin  their  work  upon  us. 

This  conflict  of  individual  interest,  beginning 
with  our  very  existence,  is  only  apparent.  For 
such  is  the  fundamental  unity  of  human  interests, 
so  completely  are  our  essential  lives  merged  in 
each  other's,  that  the  highest  good  and  happiness 
of  each  individual  can  only  be  attained  through  the 
highest  good  and  happiness  of  all.  The«  truth  of 
this  statement  is  rarely  discovered,  and  still  more 
rarely  realized,  in  this  bodily  state  of  our  being. 

Self-love,  shrouded  in  ignorance,  prompts  every 
one  to  seize  and  appropriate  to  his  own  use  all 
the  goods  within  his  reach ;  and  hence  a  sort  of 
social  warfare  is  kept  up  between  every  man  and 
his  neighbor,  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave ;  so 
that  all  our  interests  and  relations  are,  at  times, 
objects  of  personal  strife  ;  thus  making  necessary 
those  crosses  and  restraints  of  society  and  govern- 
ment, which  are  calculated  to  break  in,  subdue, 
and  prevent  the  too  violent  action  of  the  passions  : 
but  which,  nevertheless,  do  not  prevent  the  strong 
and  cunning  from  getting  the  "  lion's  share,"  and 
so  monopolizing  the  wealth,  power,  and  honors  of 
this  temporary  state  of  existence.  And  these,  not 
having  learned  the  lesson  of  Dives  and  Lazarus, 
regard  themselves  as  a  more  highly  favored  and 
10* 


H4  The  Problem  of  Life 

superior  class,  and  affect  to  look  down  upon  their 
poorer  fellows,  with  more  or  less  contempt. 

Here  we  discover  that  the  sins  and  sufferings 
of  this  life  are  not  only  necessary  results  of  man's 
composite  structure,  but  are  also  essential  condi- 
tions of  his  development  and  attainments  in 
knowledge  and  culture.  And  so  they  do  not 
happen  outside  the  circle  of  the  divine  arrange- 
ments, but  are  the  surest,  and  indeed  the  only 
methods  of  reaching  its  highest  and  most  benefi- 
cent results.  Being  only  temporary  incidents  or 
conditions,  they  are  yet  eternal  in  their  uses. 

But  education  and  culture  do  not  end,  they  only 
begin,  with  life  in  the  body.  The  higher  truths 
of  our  social  and  spiritual  relations,  as  a  general 
rule,  can  only  be  learned  and  realized  in  the  spirit- 
ual world.  But  learned  and  realized  they  will 
be,  for  that  wisdom  and  power  which  conceived 
and  formed  us,  loves,  also,  too  well  to  leave  his 
work  in  a  crude  and  unfinished  state. 

And  here  I  wish  to  repeat,  that  upon  this  sub- 
ject, which  is  so  vast,  and  upon  which  our  knowl- 
edge is  so  limited,  I  am  only  out  on  a  voyage  of 
discovery,  guided  by  such  landmarks  as  I  find 
mapped  out  in  the  facts  and  principles  of  nature  ; 
and  telling  how  things  seem  to  me,  with  the 
reasons  for  this  seeming  based  on  these  facts  and 
principles. 

I  have  spoken  of  outward  forms  as  only  the 


And  Immortality.  115 

clothing  of  ideas ;  and  of  these  forms,  as  being 
shaped  like  the  ideas  which  produced  them.  Our 
spiritual  bodies  are  shaped  like  our  material 
bodies,  which  they  permeate  and  animate  in  every 
part.  The  material  grew  upon  the  spiritual,  as  a 
natural,  close-fitting  garment,  inside  and  out ; 
and  so  bodies  and  shadows  forth  the  man,  that 
almost  every  one  mistakes  it  for  the  man  himself. 

A  friend  asks  if  the  spirit  has  legs,  arms,  mem- 
bers, organs  ?  It  has  them  now,  while  in  the 
body,  a  whole  perfected  human  form.  If,  as  I 
am  trying  to  show,  the  real  man  is  a  spiritual 
being,  and  the  outward  body  is  only  the  out- 
growth of  the  spiritual,  then  the  spiritual  remains 
the  same  after  the  material  is  cast  oif;  with  all 
its  members,  organs,  and  form  complete  :  as  un- 
clothing the  man  does  not  dismember  him. 

And  as  man  only  works  in  the  order  and  after 
the  patterns  of  nature,  such  is  the  case  with  all 
the  forms  of  use,  beauty,  or  comfort  with  which  we 
surround  ourselves.  These  forms  all  take  their 
shape  as  spiritual  entities  in  our  ideal  or  spiritual 
world;  and  we  bring  them  from  thence,  and  clothe 
them  in  such  materials  as  are  adapted  to  our  needs 
and  enjoyments  through  the  body ;  the  body 
itself  being  entirely  without  sensation.  The  soul 
alone  feels,  suffers,  or  enjoys. 

We  speak  of  imaginations  as  vapory  nothings ; 
but  a  moment's  reflection  may  show  us  that  they 


n6  The  Problem  of  Life 

are  real,  and  because  spiritual,  all  the  more  sub- 
stantive and  enduring  facts,  some  of  which  we 
clothe  in  outward  forms.  And  this  clothing  we 
call  something :  we  say  it  is  a  reality.  Numerous 
ideas  or  imaginations,  however,  are  formed  in,  or  re- 
vealed to,  the  mind,  which  are  never  thus  outwardly 
clothed ;  and  we  say,  "  they  are  nothing  but  ima- 
ginations." But  we  have  abundant  reasons  for  be- 
lieving that  these  thoughts  and  imaginations  are 
much  more  real  and  enduring  than  their  outward 
garments ;  as  the  fact  of  their  outward  clothing 
adds  nothing  to  their  essential  qualities,  but  only 
brings  them  within  the  grasp  of  our  outward 
senses.  And  through  these  material  forms  we  are 
able  by  our  senses  to  retain  that  connection  with 
them  which  may  be  pleasant  or  necessary  to  our 
bodily  condition.  Now,  these  thoughts,  or  imagina- 
tions, bear  the  same  relations  to  our  spiritual  bod- 
ies and  senses  that  their  outward  clothing  in 
architecture,  machinery,  painting,  sculpture,  or 
other  forms,  do  to  our  material  bodies  and  senses. 
And  when  we  have  cast  off  these  outward  bodies, 
we  shall  come  into  the  same  practical  working  re- 
lations with  all  spiritual  things  that  we  now  do, 
through  these  bodies,  to  their  outward  signs ;  and 
so  the  very  essence  of  all  high  art  will  be  present 
to  our  spiritual  senses. 

In  that  world,  we  shall  find  the  real  and  endur- 
ing basis  of  all  the  forms  of  use  and  beauty  —  but 


And  Immortality.  1 1/ 

more  especially  the  latter  —  which  have  been  re- 
vealed to  us  in  this.  Painting,  sculpture,  music, 
poetry,  are  all  revealed  to  us  here  through  material 
and  sensible  forms.  And  yet  these  forms  fail  of 
presenting  the  full  and  true  conception  in  the 
mind  of  the  artist ;  for  no  artist  has  yet  been 
able  to  clothe  his  best  conception  in  an  exactly 
corresponding  outward  symbol.  Nor  has  any  one 
ever  yet  been  able  to  conceive  the  highest  ideal  of 
his  own  art ;  for  the  reason  that  his  bodily  condi- 
tion and  relations  must,  to  a  degree,  cloud  and  ob- 
scure his  spiritual  vision  :  while  in  the  spiritual 
world  no  material  signs  of  art  are  wanted  ;  and  no 
labor  is  required  to  produce  them,  beyond  the  mere 
conception  of  the  ideal  itself;  and  whenever  we 
wish  to  surround  or  possess  ourselves  with  forms 
of  beauty  in  art,  we  have  only  to  think  them  out, 
in  order  to  have  them. 

So  all  the  glorious  colors  of  the  rainbow  have 
their  home  in  the  spiritual  world, — for  our  pris- 
matic philosophy  begins  there,  —  and  are  used  by 
the  powers  of  that  world,  or  the  great  artist  of 
nature,  to  give  an  endless  variety  of  beautiful 
hues  and  tints  to  herbage  and  flowers ;  and  al- 
though these  wither  and  fade,  and  their  colors  de- 
part, they  are  not  annihilated,  but  only  gone 
home  again  to  the  boundless  fields  of  light,  from 
whence  they  came  for  a  while  to  cheer  and  adorn 
our  weary  pilgrimage.  For  light  is  the  universal 


n8  The  Problem  of  Life 

law;  and  darkness  only  exists  as  in  shadows. 
There  they  are  all  of  them  ;  and  we  may  see  them 
again  in  more  glorious  tints  and  hues  than  ever. 

What  is  true  of  sights  is  true  of  sounds.  There 
are  infinite,  grand  choruses  in  the  spiritual  world, 
with  their  transporting  harmonies  and  melodies, 
which  we  hear  not  because  of  this  dull  harrier  of 
the  flesh.  Yet  we  conceive  somewhat  of  these 
harmonies ;  and  so  with  our  own  voices,  and  in- 
struments made  of  materials  like  our  bodies,  we 
break  over  this  fleshly  wall,  and  so  let  the  impris- 
oned soul  hear  and  have  fore-gleams  and  ante-pasts 
of  that  which  is  to  come. 

I  think  I  have  sufficiently '  illustrated,  that, 
while  the  material  body  perishes  and  falls  away, 
the  soul  or  its  affections  never  waste  or  grow  old. 
Indeed,  the  affections  are  more  chastened,  tender, 
refined,  and  unselfish  in  the  aged  than  in  the 
young.  So  that  our  word  "  age  "  has  the  meaning 
of  ripeness,  mellowness. 

And  I  think,  further,  that  in  following  out  this 
course  of  reasoning  will  be  found  the  certain  proofs 
of  the  spiritual  world,  with  all  its  grand,  infinite, 
and  eternal  realities. 

And  this  world  is  henceforth  no  longer  a  dim 
and  shadowy  region,  peopled  with  the  vague,  in- 
definable, and  fearful  spectres  of  an  uncertain  myth- 
ology ;  but,  to  the  eye  of  reason  and  philosophy, 
it  is  a  real  and  substantial  world,  populated  with 


And  Immortality.  119 

real  men  and  women ;  a  world  of  life  and  light 
and  joy,  with  its  outlines  and  details  so  clearly  and 
strongly  defined,  that  what  was  once  only  felt  as  a 
divine  inspiration,  in  the  most  exalted  moments 
of  the  most  exalted  souls,  and  uttered  in  the  glow- 
ing language  of  rapt  and  beatific  vision,  now  comes 
within  the  scope  of  demonstrative  knowledge,  and 
so  into  the  domain  of  established  science. 

And  now,  after  all  this  statement  of  facts,  and 
reasonings  therefrom,  the  question  may  arise,  as 
to  the  where  of  this  spiritual  world  ?  And  while 
it  is  easy  to  say  where  it  is,  it  is  impossible  to  say 
with  any  certainty  where  it  is  not.  For  it  is  where- 
soever God  is  ;  and  that,  as  I  have  shown,  is  every 
where.  For  there  is  no  place  or  point  in  space 
which  is  not  included  in  His  illimitable  Life  sensa- 
tion and  power.  We  are  enveloped  in  His  folds, 
and  He  wraps  us  about  like  an  invisible  garment. 
We  walk  and  work,  and  all  our  life  and  being  are 
in  Him  ;  and  He  fills  and  occupies  the  universe 
which  must  be  as  boundless  as  space  itself,  which, 
to  my  finite  mind,  is  absolutely  illimitable.  For 
I  cannot  conceive  an  end  to  space,  beyond  which 
there  is  no  space. 

Now,  it  must  be  seen  from  this  foreshowing,  that 
these  measureless  fields  are  no  vacuums,  but  every 
point  in  them  is  permeated  and  animated  by  the 
All-comprehending  life,  and  guided  by  the  All-com- 
prehending wisdom  of  God ;  whose  power  not 


I2O  The  Problem  of  Life 

only  keeps  the  solar,  but  all  the  stellar  systems  in 
motion  and  due  relations  to  each  other,  but  im- 
parts His  vital  forces  to  all  the  living  forms,  be 
they  vegetable,  beast,  man,  or  other,  which  people 
this  same  universe  ;  in  the  same  way  as  the  vital 
operations  in  a  man  are  carried  on  by  the  forces 
in  his  own  being. 

Those  bodies  of  matter — the  suns,  planets,  stars, 
which  are  scattered  throughout  the  extent  of  this 
infinite  space,  and  held  in  proper  relations  to  each 
other  by  the  mighty  reach  of  gravitation,  and  the 
laws  of  that  form  of  substance,  or  the  vital  forces 
of  Nature  —  serve  as  depots  of  materials,  and 
workshops  or  laboratories,  where  the  All-Soul,  the 
Infinite  union  of  Father  and  Mother,  is  forever 
clothing  or  moulding  His  living  ideas  or  concep- 
tions in  outward  forms,  and  so  making  them 
living,  conscious  beings.  These,  having  received 
the  rudiments  of  knowledge  and  culture  here, 
break  their  earthy  moulds,  cast  off  their  outward 
bodies,  and  with  them  all  material  ties  to  these 
planets,  and  enter  upon  another  state  of  existence 
with  all  its  new  relationships. 

I  have  shown  that  power  is  known  to  us  only 
through  its  material  manifestations.  That  ideas 
and  imaginations  are  substantive  realities,  having 
their  existence,  basis,  and  nativity  in  the  spiritual 
world ;  and  we  are  only  separated  from  a  more 
perfect  knowledge  of  them  by  this  material  body. 


And  Immortality.  121 

The  body,  then,  is  only  a  thin  veil  between  us  and 
a  perception  and  knowledge  of  these  boundless 
fields  of  life  and  power,  which  lie  all  around,  and 
are  really  pressing  upon  us.  A  blind  man  walks 
in  the  midst  of  light,  but  does  not  see  it,  though 
laved  in  its  floods.  Remove  the  opaque  film,  or 
whatever  obstructs  his  vision,  and  he  sees  the 
floods  of  light,  and  other  things  by  which  he  is 
surrounded.  So  we  live  and  walk  in  the  spiritual 
world,  here  and  now,  but  know  it  not  because  of 
ibis  material  veil.  We  cast  off  this  veil,  or  these 
bodies,  by  their  death :  in  other  words,  we  remove  the 
films  and  obstructions  from  our  spiritual  senses, 
and  find  ourselves  in  the  immediate  presence  of 
spiritual  things.  So  we  need  not  travel  one  step 
in  space  to  find  the  spiritual  world.  For  science, 
knowledge,  will  yet  demonstrate  that  the  spirit- 
ual world  really  includes  the  material,  with  all 
space,  and  all  that  space  contains,  while  the  ma-  \ 
terial  world  is  only  used  to  symbolize  and  body  / 
forth  the  spiritual. 

The  body,  which  served  as  a  weight  to  keep  us 
down  here,  being  gone,  we  are  no  longer  bound  to 
this  planet :  we  are  simply  free  to  stay  or  go  ;  for 
our  spiritual  bodies  have  no  more  weight  by  our 
material  standards  than  thoughts  or  affections 
have,  and  hence  are  not  subject  to  the  laws  of 
matter ;  the  attraction  of  gravitation  has  no  longei 
11 


122  The  Problem  of  Life 

any  hold  upon  us,  and  our  desires  are  the  motive 
powers  to  carry  our  spiritual  bodies,  as  they  now 
carry  our  thoughts,  whithersoever  we  will. 

So,  this  veil  of  the  flesh  being  rent  away,  the 
illimitable  universe  is  opened  to  us;  and,  if  our 
affections  are  rightly  chastened  and  refined,  we  may 
commence  its  unending  rounds  of  contempla- 
tions, enjoyments,  studies,  delights.  There  is  no 
danger  of  falling  to  the  earth,  or  any  planet,  now, 
unless  your  desires  are  of  the  earth,  earthy ;  for 
the  material  tie  is  severed,  and  you  are  free. 

"  No  more  thy  wing  shall  touch  gross  earth; 
Far  under  shall  its  shadows  flee, 
And  all  its  sounds  of  woe  or  mirth 
Grow  strange  to  thee. 
Thou  wilt  not  mingle  in  its  noise, 
Nor  court  its  joys." 

For  the  infinite  is  yours,  with  all  its  grand 
realities  and  unchanging  splendors.  For  here 
indeed  is  beauty  unfading,  harmonies  unending, 
flowers  which  never  wither,  and  fruits  which 
never  decay.  Here  are  landscapes  which  no  mor- 
tal artist's  pencil  can  ever  sketch ;  with  glebe  and 
lawn,  and  hill  and  vale,  and  the  tops  of  its  Delectal  >le 
Mountains  piercing  the  eternal  heavens.  All  the 
bright  visions  of  rapt  seer  and  inspired  prophet 
are  more  than  realized  in  the  spiritual  world ;  for 
these  visions  are  not  "  baseless  fabrics,"  but  are 
founded  on  the  realities  of  that  world ;  and  so  on 
the  nature  of  things. 


And  Immortality.  123 

"  There's  a  spring  in  the  wood  by  my  sunny  home, 
Afar  from  the  dark  sea's  tossing  foani:* 
Oil  I  the  gush  of  that  fountain  is  sweet  to  hear, 
As  a  song  from  the  shore  to  the  sailor's  ear ; 
And  the  sparkle  which  up  to  the  sun  it  throws, 
Through  the  feathery  fern,  and  the  wild  olive  boughs; 
And  the  gleam  on  its  path  as  it  steals  away 
Into  deeper  shades  from  the  sultry  day; 
And  the  large  water  lilies  that  o'er  its  bed 
Their  pearly  leaves  to  the  soft  light  spread, — 
They  haunt  me  I    I  dream  of  that  bright  spring's  flow : 
I  thirst  for  its  rills  like  a  wounded  roe. 

Be  still,  sad  heart,  suppress  thy  wailing  cry; 

For  in  full  Tiew  before  thee  sweet  opening  visions  lie. 

"  Oh  1  the  glad  sounds  of  the  joyous  earth : 

The  notes  of  the  singing  cicala's  mirth  ; 

The  murmurs  that  live  in  the  mountain  pines; 

The  sighing  of  winds  as  the  day  declines ; 

Tlie  wings  flitting  home  through  the  crimson  glow 

That  steeps  the  woods  when  the  sun  is  low; 

The  voice  of  the  night-bird  which  sends  a  thrill 

Through  the  forest  leaves  when  the  winds  are  still, — 

I  hear  them :  around  me  they  rise,  they  swell ; 

They  claim  back  my  spirit  with  hope  to  dwell; 

They  come  with  the  glow  of  the  fresh  spring-time, 

And  awaken  my  youth  in  its  hour  of  prime. 
All  forms  of  earthly  beauty  are  only  symbols  given 
Of  forms  more  beauteous  still  to  be  revealed  in  heaven. 

"  'Tis  there  I    Down  the  mountains  I  see  the  sweep 
Of  its  wondrous  forests,  the  rich  and  deep, 
With  the  burden  and  glory  of  flowers  they  wear, 
Floating  upborne  on  the  blue  summer  air; 
And  the  light  pouring  through  them  in  tender  gleams, 
And  the  flashing  forth  of  a  thousand  streams. 
In  the  depths  of  its  woods,  there  the  shadows  rest 
Massy  and  still  on  the  greensward's  breast; 


*  "  And  there  was  no  more  sea."  — Rev.  xxl.  1.     "^he  sea  is  a  symbol 
of  upheaval  and  unrest.  — "  There  the  weary  are  at  rest." 


124  The  Problem  of  Life 

There  the  rocks  resound  with  the  water's  play. 

I  hear  the  sweet  laugh  of  my  fount  give  way. 
Give  way  I    Earth's  booming  surge  its  tempests  roar, 
Its  toils  and  cares  shall  vex  my  soul  no  more  1 " 

And  all  these  boundless,  grand,  and  beautiful 
realities  may  be  ours  whenever  we  have  attained 
to  that  condition  of  cultured  and  unselfish  love 
which  will  enable  us  to  use  them  wisely  and  well. 
And  we  may  repose  in  the  delightful  tranquillity  of 
their  sylvan  shades,  or  journey  from  planet  to 
planet,  from  sun  to  sun;  or  from  star  to  star,  on 
through  the  most  enjoyable  travel,  without  ex- 
haustion or  weariness.  Not  as  here,  by  smoky  car 
or  toilsome  coach,  exposed  to  a  thousand  perils  ; 
but,  as  just  now  stated,  by  mere  effort  of  the  will, 
for  that  is  all  the  motive  power  required.  And 
our  travelling  companions  shall  be  only  such  as 
are  held  in  the  bond  of  a  common  sympathy.  No 
unwelcome  intruders  there.  For  all  societies  are 
based  on  mutual  fellowship,  and  unity  of  sentiment 
and  feeling. 

Hitherto,  the  hard,  mechanical,  and  cold  anato- 
mizing methods  of  scientific  and  metaphysical  in- 
quiries and  investigations  have  furnished  little  or 
no  consolation  to  such  as  are  burdened  with  a 
sense  of  the  evils,  wrongs,  imperfections,  and  suffer- 
ings which  are  incidental  to  our  material  condi- 
tions and  relations ;  and  none  at  all  to  those 
whose  own  lives  have  been  full  of  loss,  sadness, 
and  sorrow. 


And  Immortality.  125 

But  the  methods  here  presented  must  show, 
that,  of  all  the  things  we  have  ever  known  or  loved, 
"  the  time-shadows  alone  have  perished,  or  are 
perishable ; "  that  conscious,  individual  immor- 
tality is  inherent  in  the  human  soul  in  virtue  of 
its  existence  as  a  living,  organized  thought  of  God. 
S>  when  the  bereaved  heart  cries  out  in  agony  on 
seeing  the  earthly  vesture  of  its  friend  fall  away, 
"  O  Heaven  !  is  the  white  tomb  of  our  loved  one, 
who  died  from  our  arms,  and  must  be  left  behind 
us  there,  which  rises  in  the  distance  like  a  pale, 
mournfully-receding  milestone,  to  tell  us  how  many 
toilsome,  uncheered  miles  we  have  journeyed  on 
alone,  but  a  pale  spectral  illusion?  Is  the  lost 
friend  still  mysteriously  here,  even  as  we  are  here 
mysteriously  with  God  ? "  —  its  griefs  may  be 
turned  to  gladness  and  its  agonies  to  joy,  in  the 
knowledge  that  "  the  real  being  of  whatever  was, 
and  whatever  is,  and  whatever  shall  be,  is  now, 
and  shall  be  forevermore." 

For,  as  before  stated,  the  most  real,  substantive, 
and  enduring  facts  in  nature  are  mind,  soul,  im- 
agination, poetry,  art.  And  because  our  crude 
infantile  science,  which  has  spent  its  childish  days 
in  the  examination  of  their  mere  outward  clothing, 
but  cannot  weigh,  cut  up,  analyze,  or  otherwise 
subject,  these  essences  to  its  established  material 
formularies,  as  it  might  a  piece  of  rock,  the  present 
tendency  of  "  scientific  thought "  is  to  doubt  their 


126  The  Problem  of  Life 

self-existence,  and  to  regard  them  somewhat  as 
the  mere  odors,  or  exhalations,  of  their  garments  ; 
and,  when  the  garments  are  frayed  away  and  gone, 
the  exhalations  themselves  cease ;  and  when  a 
new  garment  is  formed,  then  new  odors  and  exha- 
lations result.  So  they  think  —  or  lead  some  peo- 
ple to  believe  they  do  —  that  all- the  wonderful 
mental  and  emotional  phenomena  of  the  human 
soul  are  wholly  dependent  for  their  existence  upon 
material  organic  bodies,  —  a  fallacy  I  think  already 
sufficiently  disposed  of. 

But  let  us  be  thankful  that  scientific  inquiries 
and  investigations  have  been  commenced;  and 
patiently  await  the  next  advancing,  even  though 
they  be  tottering  steps,  as  I  am  quite  sure  they 
will  be  in  the  right  direction. 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  personal  conflicts  of 
this  life  have  their  origin  in  the  selfish  affections 
and  discordant  elements  which  are  wrought  into 
the  structure  of  man  ;  and  the  unrestrained  action 
of  this  selfishness  would  result  in  the  utter  absorp- 
tion, expenditure,  and  destruction  of  all  the  goods 
and  blessings  of  existence,  both  material  and 
spiritual.  For  it  prompts  every  one,  "by  hook  or 
by  crook,"  to  get  all  he  can  without  labor  or  effort : 
all  would  consume,  none  would  produce  ;  and  so 
th'e  entire  stock  of  goods  and  enjoyments  would 
soon  be  exhausted,  and  the  race  would  starve 
together.  The  illustrations  on  this  head  furnished 


'And  Immortality.  127 

by  the  loafers,  drones,  schemers,  thieves,  grabbers, 
robbers,  scoundrels,  in  the  present  condition  of 
society,  prove  this  statement  beyond  cavil. 

The  roaring,  devouring  lions,  the  ferocious, 
hungry  wolves,  bears,  tigers,  in  human  nature,  are 
striving  to  eat  up  the  sheep,  cows,  —  elements  of 
milder  type.  But  God  does  not  leave  his  work 
unfinished.  Nor  does  he  finish  it  in  the  foundry, 
among  the  furnaces,  clay,  sand,  dirt,  and  dust 
where  it  is  moulded.  He  carries  it  to  higher  de- 
partments in  his  vast  laboratories,  higher  schools 
of  discipline  in  his  university,  where  these  wolves, 
lions,  bears,  are  made  to  dwell  in  peace  and  love 
with  those  they  once  devoured  ;  and  so  chastened 
and  refined  into  social  love,  or  love  of  fraternity, 
which  works  an  entirely  opposite  effect. 

For  that  softens  the  heart,  makes  the  affections 
tender  and  sympathetic,  and  diffuses  aU  goods  and 
enjoyments  throughout  the  entire  social  body. 
And  wherever  each  member  of  such  body  shall  be 
animated  by  this  spirit,  the  strife  of  all  will  be, 
who  will  love  most,  and  contribute  most  to  the 
happiness  of  all.  Each  will  desire  to  share  his 
highest,  holiest  joy  with  all,  and  all  with  each. 
Every  member  will  produce  more  than  he  con- 
sumes ;  so  there  will  be  a  constant  surplus  of  good 
things  in  store,  and  therein  shall  they  solve  the 
grand  mystery  of  heaven.  For  here,  in  this  state 
of  unselfish  love,  and  on  these  exalted  heights  of 


128  The  Problem  of  Life 

divine  renunciation  of  exclusive  selfishness,  will 
be  found  the  only  conditions  of  highest  life  in  the 
spiritual  world. 

I  have  thus  far  confined  myself  .to  science  and 
philosophy,  or  the  facts  and  the  reasons  of  things, 
not  having  trespassed,  I  believe,  to  any  great  ex- 
tent on  the  domains  of  speculative  theology.  And 
yet  my  philosophy  quarrels  with  no  man's  the- 
ology, but  embraces  every  system  as  educational, 
and  hence  necessary  to  our  rude  infantile  condi- 
tion. As  I  have  begun  and  continued,  so  shall  I 
end ;  for  it  is  my  purpose  to  apply  the  tests  of 
reason  and  science  to  those  problems  in  human 
life  which  have  forever  stumbled  our  wisest  theo- 
logians, and  with  which  problems  other  than  theo- 
logians have  rarely  ventured  to  grapple. 

From  the  view  of  the  origin  and  relations  of 
man  herein  presented,  it  is  shown  that  we  are 
the  offspring  and  children  of  God  ;  and  hence  par- 
takers of  the  Divine  character,  and  so  stand  in 
the  nearest  possible  relationship  to  Him.  And 
herein  we  discover  the  true  Emmanuel,  —  "  God 
with  us."  God  in  us,  and  we  in  Him.  For  God 
is  nowhere  else  so  near  the  soul  as  in  the  soul. 
And  when  we  come  to  a  full  recognition  of  this 
Divine  presence  within  us,  we  shall  here  discover 
the  true  Shechinah,  wherein  dwells  the  Holiest ; 
and  so  be  reverent  to  man,  as  bodying  forth  the 
Divine  Presence,  —  the  symbol  of  God. 


And  Immortality.  129 

In  this  whole  inquiry  I  have  kept  aloof  from  all 
authorities  and  revelations  except  those  of  Nature. 
And  her  teachings  have  led  me  into  full  concur- 
rence with  the  basic  doctrine  of  Jesus.  For  what- 
ever may  be  thought  of  atonements,  sacrifices, 
new  births,  pardons,  these  were  only  crude  ideals, 
clinging  like  misty  draperies  around  the  theologies 
of  his  race  and  times. 

But  higher,  deeper,  grander  than  all,  and  un- 
derlying and  including  all,  he  felt  his  Sonship. 
He  said,  "  I  am  the  Son  of  God ; "  and  he  told 
others  to  address  God  as  "our  Father,"  thereby 
recognizing  the  sonship  of  mankind.  And  while 
he  claimed  that  others  were  Sons  of  God,  as  well  as 
himself,  he  also  claimed  to  be  "  the  Son  of  man," 
as  well  as  they ;  and  so  regarded,  called,  and 
treated  them  as  "brethren."  And  when  Peter 
said,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  liv- 
ing God,"  Jesus  answered  and  said,  "  And  I 
also  say  unto  thee,  That  thou  art,  Peter."  As  if 
he  had  said,  "  So  are-  you,  Peter."  And  on  this 
basic  and  fundamental  truth  —  the  Fatherhood  of 
God  and  the  sonship  of  humanity  —  will  I  build. 
And  Paul  at  Athens  indorses  the  statement  of  the 
Greek  poet,  that  we  are  the  "  offspring  of  God." 
And  John  exclaims,  "  Now  are  we  the  sons  of 
God." 

If  it  should  be  thought  that  the  above  reading 
of  the  passage  —  "  Thou  art,  Peter,"  &c.  —  is  un- 
9 


130  The  Problem  of  Life 

warranted,  let  us  see  if  this  reading  does  not  fur- 
nish a  very  common-sense  view  of  what  Jesus 
meant  to  convey,  and  at  the  same  time  furnish  a 
satisfactory  solution  of  what  has  been  the  occasion 
of  a  long-standing  controversy  between  Catholic 
and  Protestant  Christians. 

I  am  not  anxious  to  save  the  credit  of  Jesus  on 
any  point.  Yet  I  think  he  has  never  been  more 
than  very  partially  understood  by  his  friends  or 
foes.  And  his  greatest  enemies  are,  and  have 
been,  his  professed  friends.  For  the  priesthoods  in 
all  ages  have  labored  to  keep  their  gods  at  a  vast 
and  unapproachable  distance  from  the  people. 

And  the  prevailing  idea  among  the  Jews,  and 
perhaps  among  most  other  nations,  at  that  time,  — 
and  indeed  of  all  nations  in  all  timeSj  —  concern- 
ing the  relations  of  man  to  God,  was,  and  is,  mere- 
ly that  of  creature  and  CREATOR.  That  man  is 
simply  a  creature  of  God,  as  a  newly-invented  de- 
vice or  machine  is  the  creature  of  the  inventor ;  and 
so  no  more  kinship  of  sympathy  and  affection 
exists  naturally  between  God  and  man,  than  ex- 
ists between  a  machine  and  its  builder.  God  was 
to  them  the  Almighty.  And  the  power  of  God 
over  man  was  as  absolute  as  that  of  "  the  potter 
over  the  clay  ;  "  and  the  relations  between  them  as 
cold,  heartless,  and  unfeeling,  and  his  favor  only 
to  be  won  by  offerings  and  sacrifices. 

While  the  deep-seated  and  overmastering  idea 


And  Immortality.  131 

of  Jesus,  which  he  wished  to  impress  upon  the 
minds  of  the  people,  and  which  he  uttered  on 
every  fitting  occasion,  was  the  intimate  and  endear- 
ing relationship  existing  between  the  Infinite  and 
the  finite  soul, — between  God  and  man;  and, 
feeling  this  relationship  so  fully  in  his  own  being, 
he  strove  at  times  to  impress  it  upon  others.  Yet 
knowing  their  long-cherished  ideas,  that  God  was 
the  displeased,  angry,  almighty  Ruler  of  mankind, 
who  cherished  towards  them  the  most  jealous  and 
watchful  regard  for  "  the  honor  of  his  great  name," 
and  who  dispensed  his  blessings  and  curses  in  the 
ratio  of  their  servility  to  him,  he  found  a  difficulty 
in  overcoming  these  prejudices,  and  impressing 
upon  his  hearers  the  idea  of  an  inherent  and 
essential  kinship  existing  between  God  and  man, 
so  near  and  endearing  as  that  of  parent  and  chil- 
dren ;  that  God  is  really  in  man,  the  Father  in 
the  son.  And  yet,  to  those  who  closely  study  his 
life  and  teachings,  this  appears  as  the  underlying 
and  animating  spirit  of  both  ;  and  while  he  set  up 
for  himself  no  claim  to  extraordinary  goodness, 
saying,  "  There  is  none  good  but  one,  that  is  God ;  " 
he.  also  said,  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the 
Father."  You  need  not  search  for  God  outside  your 
own  souls,  for  "  the  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you." 
"  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect."  And  many  other 
illustrations,  of  which  the  colloquy  with  Peter  fur- 
nishes one  of  the  most  pointed. 


132  The  Problem  of  Life 

I  think  that  upon  a  subject  of  this  nature,  if 
indeed  upon  any  other,  Jesus  cannot  be  justly 
charged  with  trifling.  >And  on  this  occasion,  when 
Peter  said, "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God,"  for  Jesus  to  answer,  "And  I  also  say 
unto  thee,  That  thou  art  Peter,"  &c.,  was  to  adopt 
a  very  grave  and  formal  method  of  trifling  with  a 
very  grave  subject;  for  he  told  Peter  nothing 
which  he  did  not  know  as  well  before.  Nor  did  he 
tell  any  one,  by  the  received  reading,  upon  what 
rock  he  would  build.  For  Peter  —  although  his 
name  might  imply  one  —  was  no  rock,  or  basic 
truth,  but  only  a  person,  and  a  weak  and  passion- 
ate one  too.  And  Jesus  was  too  wise  to  build  up 
a  grand  system  of  living  ethics  upon  any  person 
whatever :  he  would  not  build  upon  himself,  but 
only  upon  some  broad,  deep,  comprehensive  princi- 
ple of  eternal  truth,- such  as  is  furnished  in  the 
above  rendering  of  this  passage,  which  accords  so 
well  with  the  general  drift  of  his  teachings. 

But  I  have  inserted  a  comma  where  none  stood 
before.  Well,  does  Inspiration  care  more  for  the 
location  of  commas  than  for  the  communication  of 
divine  truths  and  fundamental  principles  ?  more 
for  mint,  anise,  and  rue,  than  for  justice,  mercy, 
and  truth  ? 

These  last  are  what  Jesus  always  insisted  upon  ; 
and  when  by  inserting  a  single  comma  we  shift 
the  foundations  of  a  vast  religious  system  from 


And  Immortality.  133 

\ 

persons  to  principles,  lift  the  hopes  and  aspira- 
tions of  the  human  soul  from  finite  son  to  the 
Infinite  Father,  help  to  reveal  the  dear  and  inti- 
mate kinship  between  God  and  man,  and  so  make 
clearer  the  underlying  principles  of  his  life  and 
teachings,  I  am  for  supplying  the  comma,  which 
other  and  abler  men  should  have  done  before. 

But  let  us  suppose  some  more  modest  and  retir- 
ing disciple,  who  believed  in  him  as  fully  as  Peter 
did,  had  spoken ;  and  Jesus  had  "  answered,  and 
said,  Blessed  art  thou,  John,  Bar-Zebedee ;  for 
flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but 
my  Father  which  is  iu  heaven.  And  I  say  also 
unto  thee,  that  thou  art,  John ;  and  upon  this  rock 
will  I  build,"  &c.  No  name  would  then  have 
limited  our  interpretation;  but  we  should  have 
found  the  rock,  or  fundamental  principle  of  all 
peace  and  harmony,  —  salvation,  —  in  the  very 
exegesis  herein  presented. 

Although  the  Christian  priesthood,  true  to  the 
universal  instinct  of  the  order,  have  labored  through 
the  whole  era  to  maintain  the  absolute  divinity  of 
Jesus ;  that  he  was  God,  yea,  the  "  very  God  of 
God,"  temporarily  and  miraculously  clothed  in  hu- 
man form  for  the  purpose  of  saving  mankind  from 
his  own  wrath,  vengeance  and  curse,  through  the 
intervention  of  sacrifices,  atonements,  pardons, — by 
their  special  ministrations,  —  he  in  his  whole  spirit 
and  life  was  so  intensely  human,  so  filled  wtih 


134  The  Problem  of  Life 

sympathy,  tenderness,  and  love,  that  human  nature 
itself  finds  its  highest,  best,  and  noblest  expressions 
in  him,  and  the  Divine  love  its  truest  and  most 
reverent  manifestations  in  and  through  the  love  of 
man. 

And  the  special  mission  of  Jesus  —  "  the  work 
which  the  Father  gave  him  to  do  "  —  was  to  reveal 
the  truth  concerning  the  real  paternity  of  man- 
kind ;  to  explain,  as  they  were  "  able  to  bear  it," 
the  truth  that  God  is  not  merely  the  Creator,  but 
he  is  the  Generator,  the  Father,  of  mankind ;  and 
to  save  men  from  the  bondage  of  fear,  and  to 
bring  them  into  "  the  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God." 

His  disciples,  on  hearing  "the  gracious  words 
that  proceeded  out  of  his  mouth,"  and  witnessing 
those  displays  of  his  marvellous  healing-power,  re- 
garded him  as  something  more  than  human,  and 
were  ready  to  concede  to  him  Divine  attributes. 
But  he  told  them  plainly,  that  if  they  would  be- 
lieve on  him,  that  is,  would  enter  into  his  spirit 
and  life,  they  should  do  even  "  greater  works " 
than  he  did;  and  by  the  same  power.  I  am  the 
"  second  Adam,"  come  to  symbolize  and  represent 
the  human  race,  and  to  reveal  and  illustrate  to 
you  the  Divine  presence  in  that  race. 

"  I  and  my  Father  are  one."  "  The  truth  of 
the  Sonship  of  man,  and  his  unity  and  oneness 
with  God,  is  revealed  to  you  in  me,  and  all  that  I 
am,  you  may  become."  Such  is  the  deep  signifi- 


And  Immortality.  13$ 

cance  of  his  language  ;  which  I  think  will  become 
clearer  the  more  thoughtfully  it  is  studied. 

And  this  reverent  love  of  God  in  humanity  is 
the  great  conservative  power  in  the  universe  of  so- 
cial life.  And  those  only  can  enjoy  its  freedoms 
and  immunities  who  live  to  its  demands.  For 
such,  having  the  law  of  highest  life  written  in 
their  affections,  need  no  outward  restraints  ;  and 
for  this  reason  they  become  the  heirs  and  inheritors 
of  all  things,  and  they  will  only  use  them  for  the 
good  and  blessing  of  all :  while  bonds,  fetters, 
limitations,  must  be  upon  all  selfish  souls ;  and  all 
such  will  themselves  make  and  apply  them,  from 
the  inevitable  necessities  of  their  condition.  And 
they  will  never  suffer  the  removal  of  these  bonds 
any  faster  than  they  emerge  from  the  lower  and 
ruder  conditions  of  life,  —  whether  in  the  material 
body  or  out  of  it,  —  into  the  higher  and  more  re- 
fined. And  not  until  celestial  love  takes  the 
place  of  selfish  lust  will  all  restraints  upon  the 
will  be  entirely  removed.  And  when  the  portals 
of  the  infinite  world  are  opened  to  such  as  have 
made  these  attainments,  and  they  are  welcomed  to 
its  loving  tasks,  they  will  enter  with  grateful  rev- 
erence, and  neither  strive  nor  desire  to  make  any 
selfish  appropriation  of  its  goods  or  enjoyments ; 
so  there  shall  be  enough  and  to  spare. 

As  it  is  not  rny  purpose,  in  this  essay,  to  follow 


136  The  Problem  of  Life 

out  in  extended  detail  the  resultants  from  any 
grounds  herein  assumed,  I  may  as  well  bring  it  to 
a  close  by  a  few  brief  reflections. 

If  the  position  that  all  consciousness,  sensation, 
emotion,  are  of  the  spirit,  and  belong  not  essen- 
tially to  the  body,  is  true,  then  the  bare  fact  of 
death  works  no  change  in  the  affections,  for  the  affec- 
tions are  wholly  spiritual ;  and  the  death  of  the  body 
is  but  the  passage  of  the  man  out  of  his  visible,  mate- 
rial, into  his  spiritual  relations.  Hence  persons  dy- 
ing in  the  state  of  self-love  above  described,  or  those 
in  the  fraternal,  are  in  the  same  state  of  affection  im- 
mediately after  such  death  as  before ;  and  their  rest 
or  unrest,  enjoyment  or  suffering,  will  be  wholly 
determined  by  the  state  of  their  affections.  But 
all  tyrants,  oppressors,  plunderers,  thieves,  robbers, 
burglars,  murderers,  will  find  their  vocations  gone 
upon  entering  the  spiritual  world.  But  as  Nature's 
spiritual,  like  her  material  laws,  are  inexorable,  the 
judgment  and  condemnation  against  such,  and  all 
other  sinners,  is  sure  and  unerring ;  and  all  must 
reap  and  eat  the  bitter  harvest  of  their  own  sow- 
ing. 

But  as  education  and  discipline  do  not"  end 
with  life  in  the  body,  nor  the  spirit  thereby  pass 
beyond,  but  is  still  under  the  fullest  influence  of 
Divine  love,  the  door  of  progress  and  highest  at- 
tainment is  open  to  all  in  the  spiritual  world ; 
though  multitudes,  by  reason  of  the  overmaster- 


And  Immortality.  137 

ing  strength  of  their  selfish  affections,  may  strug- 
gle for  ages  in  their  dark  and  bewildering  entan- 
glements, before  attaining  to  full  and* complete  de- 
liverance. And  through  what  purgatorial  agonies 
and  hells  of  suffering  they  must  pass  before  attain- 
ing to  this  deliverance  will  depend  on  the  strength 
of  the  selfish  affections  in  each  individual  case. 

If  the  theory  of  the  formation  and  composition 
of  man  here  presented  is  true,  we  should  expect  to 
find  that  the  combination  of  so  many  incongruous 
and  discordant  elements  in  one  conscious,  living 
structure  would  result  not  only  in  producing  a  dis- 
cordant race  of  beings,  but  that  individuals  of  the 
race  would  also  be  filled  with  discordant  and  con- 
flicting passions,  desires,  and  emotions.  And  the 
facts  prove  the  theory  true ;  for  the  discontents, 
wars,  strifes,  conflicts,  among  the  families  of  men, 
and  in  the  individual  soul  with  itself,  have  exceeded 
the  warfares  and  conflicts  of  all  other  beings. 

On  this  theory  we  should  expect  that  the  means 
would  exist  in-  man's  very  being,  as  a  part  of  his 
spiritual  structure,  for  bringing  all  these  warring 
and  discordant  elements  into  harmony  and  peace. 
And  such  is  the  fact  also.  And  the  first  and 
chief  of  these  means  is  moral  sense,  or  the  sense  of 
right  and  wrong,  which  is  planted  as  an  essence  in 
the  human  soul ;  which,  however  latent  at  first  or 
for  a  time,  will  at  length  be  quickened  into  life 
and  power,  and  will  tell  the  individual  soul  that 


138  The  Problem  of  Life 

* 

pain  and  suffering  must  inevitably  follow  certain 
acts,  and  joy  and  peace  must  as  inevitably  follow 
certain  others.  And  it  is  this  sense  which  under- 
lies the  notion  that  "God  is  angry  with  the 
wicked ; "  and  hence  the  "  fearful  looking-for  of 
judgment,"  which  Paul  speaks  of.  And  to  escape 
this  "judgment  and  fiery  indignation  "  of  angry 
gods,  men  have  invented  "  schemes  of  atonement 
and  pardon,"  and  "plans  of  salvation,"  whereby 
they  may  "  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come." 

Another  means  of  prompting  and  enabling  man 
to  conquer  his  ruder  passions,  and  to  bring  the  best 
within  him  uppermost,  and  in  the  line  of  his  high- 
est needs,  is  aspiration,  or  the  desire  for  something 
better  and  nobler;  which  keeps  him  forever  dis- 
contented with  present  attainments.  And  thus 
God  has  planted  the  seeds  of  man's  enlightennient 
and  regeneration  as  a  germinating  essence  of  life, 
in  the  very  core  and  centre  of  his  being;  which 
will  give  him  no  rest  until  he  "  works  out  his  own 
salvation."  And  Paul's  — "  For  it  is  God  that 
worketh  in  you,"  which  for  so  many  centuries 
has  been  a  "sacred  mystery,"  is,  after  all,  only  the 
orderly  and  methodical  operation  of  natural  forces. 
And  the  necessities  of  man's  moral  nature  have 
prompted  him  to  seek  out  and  invent  methods  of 
overcoming,  subduing,  and  refining  his  ruder  pas- 
sions, as  the  necessities  of  his  material  relations 
have  impelled  him  to  invent  the  means  of  supply- 
ing his  material  wants. 


And  Immortality.  139 

In  man's  ruder  states,  lie  naturally  falls  upon 
the  ruder  methods  in  both  his  relations.  His 
notions  of  God  are  crude.  Man  is  then  ft  fighting, 
vengeful  savage.  So  is  his  God.  His  tools  and 
implements  are  also  rude.  Yet  you  must  believe 
in  both,  his  God  and  his  tools.  And  any  in- 
novation upon  either  —  God  or  tools  —  is  a 
"  heresy  "  too  "  damnable "  for  endurance.  As 
all  men  receive  so  much  and  no  more  truth  than 
they  can  at  any  time  bear,  each  in  his  own  way 
thinks  he  has  got  it  all ;  or,  if  any  more  exists,  it 
will  only  supplement  and  confirm  what  he  now 
has,  and  so,  of  course,  can  never  supplant  and 
supersede  it.  Hence,  every  improvement  or  re- 
form, in  both  spiritual  and  material  methods,  has 
run  the  gauntlet  of  persecution  and  hostility  from 
the  beginning.  The  history  of  Christianity  fur- 
nishes a  notable  illustration  on  this  head ;  and 
for  the  reason  that  its  truths  were  the  highest 
revealed  at  the  time.  And  narrow-minded,  crude 
men  bound  them  down  with  creeds,  dogmas,  for- 
mularies, and  said,  "  This  is  the  end :  we  have  it 
all  here  in  these  books ;  and  cursed  be  he  who 
takes  one  word  from,  or  adds  one  word  to  them." 
And  this  bondage  to  books  and  creeds  is  'absolute 
over  the  minds  of  a  vast  majority  of  people  in  the 
most  enlightened  portions  of  the  world  to-day. 
And  only  a  few  of  the  most  fearless  thinkers  have 
dared  to  break  away  from  this  most  oppressive 
tyranny. 


I /jo  The  Problem  of  Life 

The  older  types  of  Christian  theology,  and  the 
modern  "evangelical,"  with  their  vast  hierarchies, 
systems,  salvations,  are  based  upon  the  hypoth- 
esis, that  when  God  created  the  universe,  and 
came  to  that  very  small  part  of  his  work,  the 
conception  and  formation  of  man,  his  genius 
utterly  failed;  the  spiritual  mechanism  went 
contrary  to  his  will  and  expectation  ;  and  instead 
of  going  patiently  at  work  to  remedy  its  defects, 
as  a  human  inventor  does,  and  making  it  perfect 
in  all  its  parts,  powers,  and  motives,  got  angry, 
and  cursed  his  own  invention,  and  sentenced  it 
to  eternal  damnation  ;  or,  according  to  the 
"Westminster  divines,"  "doomed  him  to  the 
pains  of  hell  forevermore." 

Nothing  but  human  ignorance,  crudity,  and 
folly  could  have  framed  such  a  theory.  For  these 
same  theorizers  must  admit  that  man,  in  all  his 
powers  and  possibilities,  in  all  his  passions,  im- 
pulses, and  motives,  in  his  entirety,  is  the  concep- 
tion and  offspring  of  God.  Indeed,  I  think  I  have 
sufficiently  shown,  that  not  a  quality,  characteris- 
tic, or  force  enters  into  the  structure  of  the  human 
soul,  but  enters  there,  and  is  there,  in  the  order 
of  God,  by  and  through  the  generative  processes 
of  nature.  And  so  man  had  no  more  control  over 
his  antecedents,  or  the  causes  which  produced  him, 
and  made  him  man,  than  an  ox  had  over  the 
causes  which  made  and  determined  him  to  be  au 


And  Immortality.  141 

ox.  And  man  is  no  more  to  blame  for  being  that 
which  constitutes  him  man,  than  an  ox  is  for  being 
an  ox. 

The  attractions,  repulsions,  desires,  motives, 
passions,  in  man,  constitute  his  spiritual  mechan- 
ism ;  and  their  balance  and  adjustment  in  the 
human  soul  are  purely,  so  to  speak,  God's  contriv- 
ance. Man  is  precisely  what  God  intended  he 
should  be.  And  his  temporary  sins  and  sufferings, 
however  grievous,  are  only  the  methods  by  which 
the  highest  wisdom  and  love  compel  him  to  work 
out  his  own  highest  good.  And  so  in  theology,  as 
in  all  other  things,  he  must  learn  wisdom  and 
goodness  by  first  running  into  folly  and  evil.  And 
so,  as  before  stated,  all  the  creeds,  and  the  cursing 
growing  out  of  them,  are  as  normal  to  a  state  of 
moral  and  religious  crudity,  unripeness,  as  sour  sap 
is  to  unripe  fruit. 

But  truth  is  Infinite ;  and  its  higher  forms  will 
be  discovered  or  revealed  as  man  advances  to 
higher  states  of  growth.  Hence,  as  the  mind  un- 
folds into  broader  perceptions  of  truth,  it  will  as 
naturally  reject  the  old  books,  creeds,  theologies, 
of  ruder  ages  and  states,  as  it  will  the  old  ploughs, 
tools,  machines,  modes  of  building,  travel,  &c.,  of 
those  states.  And  the  world  is  full  of  men  who 
are  now  saying,  "  Bind  your.^clf,  if  you  must,  to 
Mn.si-s,  Buddha,  Jesus,  Swedenborg,  or  the  Pope, 
but  hinder  us  not ;  for  we  are  not  barnacled  hulks, 


142  The  Problem  of  Life, 

fast  anchored  to  past  dogmas,  however  venerable. 
Our  lives  are  onward  and  upward ;  and  we  rest 
not  until  we  find  the  highest  and  best."  For 

"  The  world  advances,  and  in  time  outgrows  the  laws 
That  in  our  fathers'  days  were  best ;  " 

and,  doubtless,  after  us  some  purer  scheme  will  be 
shaped  out  by  wiser  heads  than  ours,  made  wiser 
by  the  steady  growth  of  truth." 

And  so  we  can  all  afford  patiently  to  await  the 
accumulating  good,  which  the  future  is  constantly 
adding  to  the  past. 


APPENDIX. 


SINCE  this  work  was  put  in  type,  I  have  read  an 
essay,  delivered  in  South-place  Chapel,  London, 
England,  "  to  a  large  and  interested  audience," 
by  A.  Jayram,  an  educated  Hindoo  prince,  on  "  The 
State  of  Scientific  Thought  in  England  ;  "  hy  which 
the  lecturer  endeavors  to  prove  that  the  human 
soul,  separated  from  a  material  body,  is  "  an  in- 
comprehensible nonsense ;  a  mental  negation ;  a 
mere  nothing:"  that  the  "phenomena  of  mind 
are  the  mere  accidents  of  matter." 

As  M.  D.  Conway  introduces  it  to  the  American 
public,  with  the  remark  that  "  he  cannot  believe 
that  any  one  who  reads  this  lecture  will  imagine 
that  there  is  a  single  missionary  in  India  compe- 
tent to  deal  with  the  points  it  so  powerfully  makes 
against  the  animism  that  underlies  the  Christian 
religion ; "  and  as  this  may  be  considered  as  able 
an  argument  as  can  be  made  on  that  side,  —  I 
here  present  the  most  "  powerful "  of  these 
"  points,"  with  such  hurried  criticisms  as  occurred 

143 


144  Appendix. 

to  me  on  reading  them  ;  for  I  really  have  no  time 
to  examine  them  with  greater  care.  And  if  they 
are  personal,  the  personality  is  merely  illustrative. 
And  when  I  speak  of  A.  Jayram,  I  only  take  him 
as  a  representative  of  materialism. 

I  pass  over  the  author's  ungenerous  flings, 
and  contemptuous  epithets,  bestowed  upon  reli- 
gionists, or  Spiritualists,  as  wholly  irrelevant,  and 
utterly  unsuited  to  any  thoughtful  and  considerate 
inquiry. 

I  quote  from  this  lecture  :  — 

"  The  first  thing,  then,  that  I  should  call  your 
-attention  to,  is  the  amazement,  bordering  almost 
on  incredulity,  with  which  the  Hindoo  contem- 
plates the  superstitions  and  prejudices  that  reign 
still  rampant  in  this  country,  —  not  among  the  ig- 
norant simply,  nor  among  the  so-called  educated 
Englishmen  alone,  whose  scraps  of  Greek  and 
Latin  lore,  with  scattered  recollections  of  dead 
forms  of  scholasticism,  serve  only  to  render  them 
mere  pedants  or  walking  intellectual  mummies  ;  but 
even  among  those  who  are  not  unacquainted  with 
the  results  of  modern  science.  Nay,  scientists 
themselves  are  not  unfrequently  found  subject  to 
their  pernicious  influence. 

"Now,  of  these,  there  is  none  which  has  wound 
itself  more  intimately  with  the  very  fibres  of  our 
emotional  nature,  than  the  one  which  attaches  a 


Appendix.  145 

peculiar  importance  and  mystery  to  human  des- 
tiny ;  the  idea,  namely,  that  man,  in  his  mental 
organization,  is  peculiarly  distinct  from  all  other 
creation  ;  that  he  possesses  something  in  him  which 
has  no  analogue  elsewhere  in  nature  ;  that,  in  short, 
he  bears  in  him  an  immortal  soul,  which,  in  its  es- 
sential purity,  is  completely  unconditioned  and  unin- 
fluenced hy  matter." 

This  overstates  the  case.  Few,  if  any,  believe 
the  soul  is  "  completely  unconditioned  and  uninflu- 
enced by  matter."  I  think  the  general  belief 
among  all  classes  of  Spiritualists  is,  that,  the  soul 
is  developed  and  unfolded  in  and  through  matter, 
and  so  is,  to  a  great  extent,  conditioned  and  influ- 
enced by  it.  So  here  the  writer  is  only  knocking 
down  one  of  his  own  ghosts. 

But  whence  are  these  emotions  ?  and  how  came 
this  winding  process  ?  Are  they  and  it  altogether 
material  ? 

"  Whatever  may  be  the  right  explanation  of  the 
genesis  of  this  strange  fallacy,  nobody  can  deny 
that  it  has  exercised  a  most  unhappy  influence 
upon  the  course  of  human  thought  and  prog- 
ress." 

"This  strange  fallacy"  had  its  genesis  in  the 
deepest  consciousness  of  the  highest  and  most 


146  Appendix. 

thoroughly  cultured  human  souls.  And  it  will  be 
generated  in  A.  Jayram's,  whenever  he  swings  back 
to  an  equilibrium.  He  is  flushed  and  carried  awuy 
with  a  smattering  of  materialistic  "  science."  And 
because  he  cannot  take  God  between  his  thumb 
and  fingers,  pick  up  human  souls  with  a  pair  of 
forceps,  melt  down  thoughts,  ideas,  affections  in  a 
crucible,  he  denies  the  existence  of  them  all,  ex- 
cept as  mere  forms,  or  "  accidents  of  matter." 

So  far  from  having  "  exercised  a  most  unhappy 
influence  upon  the  course  of  human  thought  and 
progress,"  I,  for  one,  affirm  that  what  he  calls 
"this  strange  fallacy"  has  furnished  the  highest 
possible  motive  to  the  course  of  human  culture, 
progress,  and  attainment. 

The  lecturer  continues  :  — 

"  To  the  same  source  is  to  be  attributed  the 
extreme  ignorance  that  you  find,  even  in  educated 
men,  in  respect  to  the  modes  of  production 
or  combination  of  the  simplest  facts  connected  with 
our  psychological  existence.  As  to  any  correct 
apprehension  of  the  true  principles  regulating  the 
essential  dependence  and  causal  interactions  be- 
tween mental  and  material  phenomena,  the  thing 
must  continue  to  be  impossible,  as  it  has  been 
hitherto,  so  long  as  scientific  men  themselves  are 
under  the  delusion  that  the  methods  of  inductive 
investigation  they  employ  in  other  departments  are 


Appendix.  147 

inapplicable  in  this,  since,  ex  hypothesi,  mind  is 
spiritual,  and  transcends  all  conditions  of  matter. 
If  the  same  rigorous  modes  of  reasoning,  and  the 
same  precision  of  language,  by  means  of  which  we 
discover  and  describe  the  laws  of  phenomena  in 
every  other  department  of  nature,  were  carried  con- 
sistently and  unflinchingly  into  the  domain  of 
mind,  there  would  be  little  doubt  left  in  any  one, 
however  prejudiced,  either  as  to  its  real  nature,  or 
the  terms  to  be  employed  in  the  expression  of  its 
relations  to  other  physical  phenomena." 

Then  our  educated  men  are  extremely  ignorant 
"  in  respect  of  the  modes  of  production  or  combi- 
nation of  the  simplest  facts  connected  with  our 
psychological  existence,"  merely  because  they  be- 
lieve, or  are  at  least  haunted  with  the  belief,  that 
man  "  bears  in  him  an  immortal  soul ; "  but  our 
author,  having  no  such  soul,  at  any  rate,  no  be- 
lief in  it,  is  able  to  deal  with  mind  and  matter  by 
the  same  rules.  And  so  we  will  attend  upon  him, 
and  see  how  he  applies  "  the  same  rigorous  modes 
of  reasoning,  and  the  same  precision  of  language," 
to  mind  that  he  does  to  other  departments  of  na- 
ture, and  learn  to  what  extent  he  will  illuminate 
his  subject.  For,  judging  from  his  language,  one 
would  suppose  that  all  the  secrets  of  nature  were 
open  and  naked  to  him  ;  that  his  rigorous  modes  of 
reasoning,  and  precision  of  language,  had  enabled 


148  Appendix. 

him  to  solve  all  mysteries,  so  that  he  knows  just 
what  life,  mind,  emotion,  sensation,  — all  the  powers 
of  mind  —  synthesis,  analysis,  comparison,  inven- 
tion, —  are.  For  all  these  phenomena,  we  shall 
soon  learn,  are  "  the  mere  accidents  of  matter." 
And  that  matter  itself  is  "neither  more  or  less 
than  the  permanent  possibilities  of  sensation." 
He  continues :  — 

"  Reason  is  perfect  unity.  Its  principles  are  as 
constant  as  the  laws  of  the  universe  around  us. 
Rather,  they  are  translations  of  the  highest  uni- 
formities of  collocation  and  sequence  in  external 
phenomena,  into  the  language  of  nervous  energy, 
in  its  responsive  vibrations  to  the  general  harmo- 
nies of  the  universe." 

No  lack  of  high-sounding  words  here.  But  ap- 
ply these  laws  and  principles  to  the  phenomena 
of  mind,  under  the  same  limitations  you  do  to  mat- 
ter, and  you  are  utterly  powerless  to  explain  the 
simplest  mental  or  vital  manifestation.  Tell  us,  if 
you  can,  by  what  chemical  formulary  you  think 
and  reason.  You  say  thinking  wastes  the  brain. 
Yes ;  but  it  is  not  waste  of  brain  which  causes 
thought,  but  the  mental  action  which  causes  the 
waste. 

Now,  as  chemistry  is  the  nearest  allied  of  any 
branch  of  material  knowledge  to  life,  including  also 


Appendix.  149 

mind,  apply  its  principles  to  an  explanation  of 
their  phenomena,  including  your  controversy 
with  theologians  and  Spiritualists  generally. 
Prof.  Barker  might  help  by  telling  you  that 
"thought  force  is  only  converted  carbon."  The 
conversion  of  carbon  is  constant.  Thought  is  infi- 
nitely variable.  You  cannot  bind  or  limit  it  by 
any  chemical  conditions  or  combinations.  Your 
ether,  or  laughing-gas,  only  opens  the  door  to  its 
wider  and  more  expansive  range.  And  if  an  over- 
dose of  carbon  causes  an  opposite  effect,  it  is  be- 
cause it  weighs  down,  and  so  burdens  the  brain  as 
to  render  it  unfit  for  vital  or  mental  use,  like  a 
tool  too  heavy  to  handle.  Remember,  it  is  mind 
using  matter,  in  all  cases,  and  not  matter  using 
mind. 

Certain  atoms  of  matter  will  always  act  pre- 
cisely the  same,  under  the  same  conditions.  If 
life  and  mind  are  the  mere  products,  "  accidents," 
of  matter,  then  they  must  always  present  the  same 
relative  phenomena,  under  the  same  relations  to 
matter.  That  is  to  say ;  that  whenever  you 
wished  to  produce  any  given  mental  phenomenon, 

—  a  philosopher,    a    scientist,  inventor,   reformer, 
statesman,  a  blockhead,  or  other,  —  you  have  only 
to  arrange  your  carbon,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  nitrogen, 

—  bones,  muscles,  brain,  nerves,  —  according  to  a 
given    formulary  in   any  case,   and    the  required 
mental  phenomenon  will  invariably  result.  Will  it  ? 


150  Appendix. 

11  First,  then,  as  respects  the  spirituality  or  inde- 
pendent existence  of  the  soul.  On  what  founda- 
tion is  this  supposition  based  ?  " 

"  So  far  as  our  knowledge  of  its  positive  mani- 
festations goes,  all  appearances  are  dead  against 
such  an  hypothesis.  The  series  of  phenomena, 
which  in  their  concrete  entirety  we  denominate,  the 
soul,  or  mind,  is  never  seen  independently  of  the 
body.  Further,  they  are  seen  to  be  connected 
more  intimately  with  one  particular  part  of  its 
structure,  —  the  nervous  system  ;  more  especially 
with  that  part  of  it  which  we  call  the  brain." 

This  supposition  is  based  upon  this  strong  foun- 
dation :  that  essence  is  indestructible;  and  mind  — 
soul  —  being  the  highest  of  all  essences,  whether  in 
or  out  of  a  material  body,  is  absolutely  indestruc- 
tible, as  to  all  its  characteristics  and  attributes. 

And  as  to  its  never  being  "  seen  independently 
of  the  body,"  it  is  never  seen  at  all.  Can  you 
cognize  mind  by  a  single  sense  ?  You  only  know 

Sof  its  operations.  If  soul  is  the  product  of  a  body, 
why  does  the  body  begin  to  decay  from  the  mo- 
ment the  soul  leaves  it?  Matter  is  always  and 
everywhere  the  product  of  mind.  Mind  is  no- 
where the  product  of  matter.  Mind  alone  shapes, 
fashions,  composes,  decomposes  matter.  And  a 
fool,  looking  on,  supposes  that  the  mind  is  only 
produced,  —  evolved  by  the  action  of  matter. 


Appendix.  1 5 1 

And  so  lie  supposes  the  soul  ceases  to  exist  when 
it  leaves  the  body ;  while,  in  truth,  it  is  the  body 
which  ceases  to  exist  and  falls  apart,  on  being 
left  by  the  soul,  as  that  alone  formed  and  kept  it 
together. 

The  mind  is  connected  with  the  brain  and  nerves 
for  the  reason  that  these  are  the  most  highly 
refined  parts  of  the  bodily  structure.  If  soul,  or 
mind,  is  the  mere  product  of  matter,  then  the  more 
solid  and  firm  the  matter,  the  greater  and  more 
powerful  should  be  its  products.  The  greater  the 
bulk  and  heft  of  a  man's  body,  the  greater  his 
mind.  But  such  is  not  the  case.  The  farther 
you  go  from  the  grosser  forms  of  matter,  the  more 
refined  and  sublimated  it  is,  the  nearer  you  ap- 
proach the  conditions  necessary  for  the  activity 
of  mind.  And  so  mental  action  begins  in  the 
brain,  and  is  transmitted  through  the  nerves  to 
the  muscles,  and  causes  their  movements,  —  "con- 
tractility." That  is  "science." 

"  Each  act  of  volition,  each  development  of 
thought  or  sensation,  is  attended  with,  and  is 
impossible  without,  a  certain  amount  of  nervous 
action,  and  a  certain  rate  of  waste  of  the  nervous  tis- 
sue." 

Yes :  but  it  is  the  action  of  mind  which  causes 
the  waste  of  the  nervous  tissue.  The  brain  and 


152  Appendix. 

nerves  being  the  tools,  or  organs  of  mind,  must,  of 
f"  course,  wear  out  with  use.  /But  it  is  the  use  which 
causes  the  wear,  and  not  the  wear  which  causes 
V  the  use.  J  The  niiud  is  brought  into  working  rela- 
tions with  matter,  through  a  material  -machine  or 
body.  This  body  is  man's  primary  tool ;  then  he 
further  invents  secondary  tools  of  wood  or  iron,  to 
increase  his  power  over  matter.  Now,  the  mind 
itself  no  more  wears  out  with  the  wear  of  its 
primary  tools,  —  brain,  nerves,  &c.,  than  it  docs 
with  its  secondary  ones,  —  its  axes,  saws,  &c. 
The  waste  follows  action.  The  action  is  not  the 
result  of  waste.  The  mind  grows  with  use,  the 
body  alone  wastes  by  use. 

A  man's  a±e  wears  out  because  he  uses  it.  Our 
author  would  have  us  believe  that  the  use  is  in 
consequence,  or  because,  of  the  wear.  Now,  if 
mental  action  comes  before  waste,  —  and  everybody 
who  thinks  knows  that  it  does,  just  as  surely  as 
weariness  follows  action,  —  then  mind  is  before 
matter;  and  is  above  and  superior  to  it.  And 
in  all  formative  processes,  as  in  all  the  activities 
of  Nature,  mind  is  antecedent,  and  all  the  forms 
and  relations  of  matter  are  consequent.  Mind  be- 
fore matter,  now  and  forever. 

"  But  there  is  yet  another  class  of  considerations, 
which  contribute  to  a  further  corroboration  of  the 
above  argument.  In  the  first  place,  the  phenomena 


Appendix.  1 5  3 

of  mind  do  not  emerge  into  view  suddenly,  or 
per  saltum,  when  we  approach  man.  They  exhibit 
a  progressive  intensity  of  complication,  beginning 
from  the  lowest  forms  of  at  least  vertebrate  life, 
where  they  exist  in  their  most  rudimentary  condi- 
tion, till  they  reach  their  highest  development 
and  fulness  in  man.  Secondly,  these  slow  transi- 
tions in  psychological  evolution,  are  not  indepen- 
dent or  arbitrary,  but  go  hand  in  hand  with  equally 
slow  advances  in  nervous  complexity,  beginning 
with  its  scarce  differentiated  existence  as  brain  in 
the  amphioxus,  and  ending  in  the  grand  swell 
and  overlapping  proportions  of  the  human  cere- 
brum. These,  and  a  host  of  other  considerations, 
which  might  be  brought  together  if  space  and 
time  permitted,  negative  conclusively  every  other 
hypothesis  than  the  one  which  alone  science  can 
indorse." 

We  are  too  often  befooled  by  this  word  "  sci- 
ence." It  seems  almost  marvellous  to  many 
minds,  as  if  it  had  solved  all  mysteries.  But  what 
is  it,  other  they*  knowledge  ?  And  this  phrase, 
"  Science  can  indorse,"  means  neither  more  nor 
less  than  what  is  known.  And  what  is  knoivn  on 
this  subject  ?  Really,  but  very  little,  with  any 
degree  of  certainty.  Although  we  feel  quite  sure 
of  this,  that,  to  those  beings  which  Nature  gives 
the  largest  minds,  she  gives  the  largest  mental 


154  Appendix. 

organs,  in  her  gradually  unfolding  and  ascending 
scale  of  creations.  The  great  mind  of  Nature 
adapts  these  organs,  tools,  to  the  minds  of  her 
offspring,  in  the  same  way  and  for  the  same 
reasons  that  she  does  their  whole  physical  struc- 
tures. The  brain  is  adapted  to  the  mind,  and  not 
the  mind  adapted  to  the  brain.  The  tools  adapted 
to  their  use,  and  not  the  use  resulting  from  the 
tools.  I  must  insist  on  putting  things  right  end 
foremost. 

"  In  the  first  place,  the  phenomena  of  mind  do 
not  emerge  into  view  suddenly,  when  we  approach 
man.  They  exhibit  a  progressive  intensity  of  com- 
plication." 

What  causes  the  mind  to  "  emerge  into  view " 
at  all,  and  to  "exhibit  a  progressive  intensity 
of  complication  "  ?  Why,  matter,  tumbled  about, 
shelter-skelter,  harem-scarem,  topsy-turvey ;  and 
these  "slow  transitions  in  psychological  evolution, 
beginning  with  the  amphioxus,  and  ending  in  the 
human  cerebrum,"  were  the  accidental  result, 
which  might  not  happen  again. 

But  what  caused  the  matter  to  tumble  ?  Oh,  — 
nothing.  It  tumbled  itself,  without  any  cause, 
purpose,  or  design.  How  could  it  have  any  ?  for, 
if  you  admit  design,  you  must  admit  a  designing 
mind  ;  and  that  would  knock  materialism  right  on 
the  head. 


Appendix.  155 

"  In  other  words,  if  we  believe  other  forms  of 
energy  as  strictly  dependent  upon  matter,  or  func- 
tions of  it,  and  do  not  therefore  believe  in  the 
possibility  of  their  separate  existence,  or  erect 
them  into  spiritual  entities,  transcending  all  laws 
of  matter,  we  have  no  other  alternative  than  to 
follow  the  same  course  in  regard  to  mind.  We 
should  consider  it,  in  short,  as  one  particular  form 
of  energy  or  force,  —  a  peculiar  function  of  matter, 
resulting  from  a  peculiar  differentiation  of  it." 

Energy  acts  upon  matter,  and  through  it,  but  is 
no  more  a  function  of  it  than  water  is  the  function 
of  a  mill,  or  steam  is  the  function  of  an  engine.  And 
so  you  may  "  follow  the  same  course  in  regard  to 
mind  ;  "  for  mind  being  a  form,  indeed,  the  highest 
form,  of  energy,  acts  in  the  same  way.  We  are 
told  that  mind  results  from  a  peculiar  "  differentia- 
tion "  of  matter.  Let  us  see  what  is  meant  by 
differentiation,  and  what  force  it  has  in  this  con- 
nection. According  to  Webster,  it  means,  —  in 
foffic,  "  the  act  of  describing  a  tiling,  by  giving 
its  specific  difference."  In  mathematics,  "  the  act 
or  process  of  differentiating."  In  physiology,  "the 
production  of  a  diversity  of  parts  by  a  process  of 
evolution." 

So  this  word  means  a  groat  deal.  And  all  its 
meaning  tells  directly  against  materialism,  and 


156  Appendix. 

does  not  help  it  one  whit.  For,  in  every  one  of 
these  relations,  mind  is  an'  absolute  prerequisite 
to  any  action  ;  for  nothing  but  mind  can  describe 
a  thing,  perform  the  act  of  differentiating  or  the 
process  of  evolution.  And,  according  to  A.  Jay- 
ram's  theory,  one,  two,  or  all  three  of  these  pro- 
cesses must  be  performed  upon  matter  before  mind 
can  result  from  it.  And  mind  alone  can  perform 
the  process,  or  differentiation.  Which  is  to  say, 
mind  cannot  exist  until  after  a  certain  act  is  per- 
formed ;  and  nothing  but  mind  can  perform  the 
act  to  begin  with.  And  so,  of  course,  mind  can 
never  exist  at  all.  That  is  what  comes  of  your 
"  rigorous  modes  of  reasoning  "  from  false  prem- 
ises. 

And  this  is  what  our  philosopher  calls  a  "com- 
plete overthrow  of  the  theological  doctrine  of  soul  " ! 
It  is  really  hard  to  be  content  with  a  single  ex- 
clamation point,  in  view  of  such  a  wonderful  exhi- 
bition of  logic. 

"  Complete  as  is  this  overthrow  of  the  theologi- 
cal doctrine  of  the  soul,  the  contest,  simply  as 
contest,  is  far  from  being  at  an  end  here." 

True  enough.  I  have  not  done  with  you  yet.  And 
you  must  not  be  so  sure  that  you  have  overthrown 
the  doctrine  of  soul ;  for,  in  this  very  "  contest," 
you  are  a  soul  trying  to  disprove  your  own  exist- 


Appendix,  157 

ence :  and  that  all  the  "grand  swell  and  overlap- 
ping proportions  "  of  your  brain  have  no  other  use 
than  to  generate  some  exhalations  which  cease  to 
exist  on  the  disruption  of  your  body  ;  and,  on  your 
theory,  Nature  reaches  no  results  at  all  commen- 
surate with  the  amount  of  labor  which  she  per- 
forms. For  as  fast  as  she  accidentally  forms  men, 
instead  of  passing  them  on  and  up  to  higher  states 
of  existence,  where  she  may  round  out  and  fulfil 
their  beings,  with  the  opportunities  of  realizing 
their  best  and  highest  ideals,  like  the  great  blun- 
derer that  she  is,  she  accidentally  puts  her  foot  on 
them  and  crushes  every  one  of  them  back  again 
into  the  nonentity  from  whence  they  came, 
like  a  huge  mill,  eternally  grinding  to  no  pur- 
pose. And  as  that  is  to  be  the  final  upshot  of  all 
your  labors,  toils,  struggles,  with  this  and  all  other 
problems,  you.  might  as  well  have  staid  in  India, 
crept  into  the  nearest  jungle,  been  made  a  break- 
fast of  by  the  first  hungry  tiger  that  came  along, 
and  so  saved  yourself  all  this  bootless  trouble. 

"  Scientific  language  itself,  it  is  said,  in  redu- 
cing the  phenomena  of  mind  to  mere  accidents  of 
matter,  is  obliged  to  distinguish  them  as  manifes- 
tations of  a  certain  force  or  energy." 

Is  it  possible  that  the  phenomena  of  our  author's 
mind,  while  he  is  in  a  struggle  with  this  meta- 


158  Appendix. 

physico-scientific  subject,  are  only  "the  mere 
accidents  of  matter  "  ?  And  is  it  not  a  little  strange 
that  these  "accidents"  should  methodize  them- 
selves in  such  orderly  form,  and  argue  so  ably  to 
prove  that  the  mill  causes  the  water  to  run,  and 
the  carriage  draws  the  horse  along  ?  And,  more- 
over, is  it  not  a  little  strange  these  "  accidents " 
should  have  such  wonderful  inventive  powers,  — 
spending  in  some  cases  years  of  hard  study  upon 
a  single  problem,  and  bringing  forth  at  length  the 
steam-engine,  the  electric  telegraph,  such  engi- 
neering projects  as  the  Suez  canal,  the  Atlantic 
cable,  railroads  across  continents,  analyzing  sun- 
light, starlight,  weighing  the  planets,  and  doing  so 
many  other  very  odd  things.  Really,  the  accidents 
of  matter  are  truly  wonderful,  viewed  from  a  "  sci- 
entific "  stand-point.  Great  is  science  !  And  it  be- 
ing so  great,  will  he  please  tell  us,  with  "  rigorous 
methods  of  reasoning  and  precision  of  language," 
just  what  kind  of  ma'ter  love  is  the  accident  of; 
what  kind  hope,  what  pride,  ambition,  jealousy, 
honesty,  knavery,  invention,  "  patient  continuance 
in  well  doing ; "  and  also  the  kind  which  accident- 
ally set  our  lecturer's  mind  off  on  this  over-confi- 
dent but  vain  attempt  to  prove  his  own  purpose,  in 
writing  his  essay,  was  no  purpose  .after  all ;  that  it 
only  resulted  in  the  unintelligible  and  purposeless 
hurly-burly  of  some  muck. 


Appendix.  159 

"But  granting,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  what  is 
not  true,  —  as  will  be  seen  presently,  —  granting 
that  force  is -something  quite  distinct  from  matter, 
and  that  the  particular  force  called  mind  is  quite 
distinct,  again,  from  all  other  forces,  I  yet  fail  to 
see  how  this  admission  can  serve  the  purposes  of 
theology.  So  long  as  force  however  distinct  from 
matter,  and  that  particular  form  of  it  known  as 
mind  however  distinct  from  all  other  forms  of  it, 
are  possible  only  in  connection  with,  through,  and 
by  means  of,  matter,  so  long  they  -must  continue 
useless  to  the  theologian.  If  they  are  never  known 
to  exist  independently  of  matter,  and  if  there  is 
not  a  particle  of  evidence  for  a  contrary  supposi- 
tion, what  becomes  of  the  spirituality  of  the  mind  or 
soul  ?  What  becomes  of  its  supposed  future  exist- 
ence, independent  of  and  unconditioned  by  m  atter  ?  " 

Spiritualists  and  theologians  do  not  hold  that 
mind  —  soul  —  is  necessarily  "  independent  of  and 
unconditioned  by  matter."  Many  believe  the  spirit-  \ 
ual  body  to  be  a  highly  refined  and  sublimated  form  ) 
of  matter.  And  so  they  believe  in  the  eternity  of 
matter,  as  the  outward  clothing  and  expression  of 
mind,  and  that,  in  some  form,  it  is  always  connect- 
ed with  and  attendant  upon  mind.-  And  so  the 
question  "of  the  spirituality  of  soul,"  or  "the 
purposes  of  theology,"  are  not  in  the  least  affected 
by  the  presumed  difficulties  above  suggested.  And 


160  Appendix. 

as  to  "  what  becomes  of  its  supposed  future  exist- 
ence," does  the  lecturer  jump  to  the  conclusion 
again,  that  a  thing  does  not  exist  because  he  can- 
not subject  it  to  the  test  of  one  or  more  of  his  out- 
ward senses? 

"There  is  yet' another  aspect  of  the  question, 
still  more  ridiculous.  We  can  afford  to  make  one 
more  admission  to  our  theologian,  which,  though 
giving  up  every  thing  we  have  been  contending  for, 
will  not  lessen  one  jot  of  his  difficulties,  but  will 
only  render  his  position  the  more  ludicrous,  because 
of  his  helplessness,  even  when  his  opponents  are 
prepared  to  help  him  to  the  full  length  of  his  own 
inordinate  wishes.  To  crown  our  chivalrous  cour- 
tesy, then,  let  us  even  grant  that  the  soul  is  capa- 
ble of  a  spiritual  existence,  completely  indepen- 
dent of  and  unconditioned  by  matter.  But  can 
we  have  even  the  faintest  conception  of  such  an 
existence  ?  Can  any  of  our  supposed  longings  and 
aspirations,  'which  the  theologian  is  ready  to  aban- 
don reason  itself  to  satisfy,  be  satisfied  by  such  an 
incomprehensible  supposition  ?  The  thoughts  of 
our  disembodied  spirits  cannot  be  any  thing  like 
our  thoughts,  since  they  are  not  produced  under 
material  conditions  like  ours.  How  they  may  be 
produced,  or  what  they  may  be  like,  we  do  not 
know,  —  we  cannot  know,  since  all  our- knowledge 
is  circumscribed  by  material  conditions,  whether  of 


Appendix.  161 

production  or  definition ;  so  that  its  thoughts  are 
nothing  like  our  thoughts.  In  other  words,  if  lan- 
guage is  to  have  any  meaning,  its  thoughts  are 
no  thoughts,  its  sufferings  are  no  sufferings,  its 
enjoyments  are  no  enjoyments.  In  short,  it  is  an 
enigma,  a  riddle,  or  rather  an  incomprehensible 
nonsense,  a  mental  negation,  a  mere  nothing.  And 
yet  it  is  for  this  mental  nonentity — this  inconceiv- 
able something,  which  may  be  any  thing  or  nothing, 
for  aught  we  may  care  —  that  our  theologian  is 
ready  to  sacrifice  consistency,  fairness,  common- 
sense,  reason,  —  every  thing  and  all." 

There's  a  good  long  extract,  with  some  "chival- 
rous courtesy"  in  it,  to  help  along  the  theologian 
"  to  the  full  length  of  his  own  inordinate  wishes." 
But  we  are  told  that  "  the  thoughts  of  our  disem- 
bodied spirits  cannot  be  any  thing  like  our  thoughts, 
since  they  are  not  produced  under  material  condi- 
tions like  ours." 

The  lecturer  was  born  in  Hindostan.  He  grew  up 
under  the  peculiar  "  material  conditions  "  and  sur- 
roundings of  that  country.  He  came  from  there 
to  England,  where  he  finds  the  material  conditions 
greatly  changed.  But  he  is  the  same  man  in  Eng- 
land that  he  was  in  India  ;  and  the  same  powers  and 
capacities  of  mind  which  he  brought  from  Hindostan 
study  and  contemplate  these  different  conditions. 
His  individual  thoughts  may  differ ;  for  whereas 


1 62  Appendix. 

in  Hindostan  he  may  have  seen  the  car  of  Jug- 
gernaut, an  idol's  temple,  a  banian-tree,  and  thought 
of  them,  in  England  he  sees  a  railroad-car,  a  tem- 
ple of  science,  an  oak-tree,  a  huge  manufactory, 
and  thinks  about  these.  But  the  same  mind  does 
the  thinking  under  all  conditions. 

If  the  theory  is  true,  that  mind  is  the  product  of 
matter,  when  Mr.  Jayram  left  India,  and  vacated 
its  material  relations,  his  memory  of  them  would 
be  entirely  obliterated  ;  being  absent  from  the  mat- 
ter, the  "  accidents  "  must  cease  also.  Nor  could 
he  ever  think  of  them  again  until  he  was  brought 
into  the  same  conditions  again ;  and  the  conditions 
being  the  same,  his  thoughts  must  be  the  same 
that  they  were  before.  And  we  should  never  re- 
member or  know  any  thing  about  any  material  fact, 
any  longer  than  we  were  in  material  relations  with 
it ;  and  the  whole  of  our  thoughts  concerning  matter 
would  begin  and  end  with  these  relations  :  and  all 
our  knowledge  of  things  would  also  begin  and  end 
with  our  material  connection  with  them.  Memory 
we  could  not  have,  and  so  the  accumulation  of  knowl- 
edge would  be  impossible.  We  should  be  like 
spouts,  through  which  water  runs,  but  in  which 
none  remains.  And  man  would  indeed  be  "  an  in- 
comprehensible nonsense,  a  mental  negation,  a  mere 
nothing."  That  is  about  all  materialism  can  give 
us.  But  we  are  told  that  our  disembodied  spirits 
are  all  these  now,  with  a  "  mental  nonentity " 


Appendix.  163 

thrown  in.  Embodied  or  disembodied,  the  spirit 
remains  the  same  in  every  change  of  its  relations 
to  matter.  Mr.  Jayrain  came  to  England  with  his 
mind  stored  with  all  the  experience  and  knowledge 
he  had  gained  in  India.  He  remembers  it  all,  and 
can  think  it  all  over.  What  would  he  think,  to 
hear  it  said  of  him  by  his  friends  whom  he  left  in 
India,  "  His  thoughts  cannot  be  any  thing  like  our 
thoughts,  since  they  are  not  produced  under  ma- 
terial conditions  like  ours  "  ?  Would  he  not  say, 
"  I  think  precisely  as  I  did  before,  only  I  have 
some  different  things  to  think  about"  ? 

He  was,  in  a  certain  sense,  disembodied  from 
India,  translated  to  and  embodied  in  England. 
Vacating  his  relations  to  India,  and  taking  on  those 
to  England,  does  not  change  in  the  slightest 
degree  the  qualities  or  capacities  of  his  mind. 
And  his  coming  to^England  only  gives  him  in- 
creased opportunities  for  mental  growth  and  cul- 
ture. So,  vacating  his  material  body  will  make  no 
change  in  his  mind ;  but  he  will  carry  all  the 
experience,  knowledge,  culture,  of  his  material  rela- 
tions into  his  spiritual,  as  the  basis  of  still  further 
growth  and  expansion. 

Indeed,  according  to  "science,"  the  man  who 
has  lived  to  the  age  of  seventy  years  has  already 
vacated  his  physical  body  at  least  ten  times. 
Some  physiologists  say  at  least  an  hundred  times ; 
but  ten '  is  enough.  It  is  true,  gradually,  though 


164  Appendix. 

not  imperceptibly,  as  any  one  may  observe.  But 
every  item  of  experience  and  knowledge  gained 
during  tliis  whole  period  is  still  retained  in  the 
storehouse  of  his  memory,  although  he  may  not  be 
able  at  any  moment  to  summon  up  each  one 
of  them  :  they  are  all  there,  nevertheless,  ready  for 
use.  While  not  a  particle  of  the  original  matter 
of  his  body  remains. 

Waste  and  repair  is  the  law  of  action  in  living 
bodies  or  animated  matter.  So  that,  from  the 
age  of  twenty-five  to  eighty-five  years,  the  waste  and 
repair  in  the  brain,  nerves,  and  all  the  working 
organs  of  a  man's  body,  just  about  keep  pace  with 
each  other.  The  working  organs  of  Humboldt's 
body,  probably  did  not  weigh  more  at  eighty-five 
than  they  did  at  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and 
occupied  no  more  space.  But  what  an  accumula- 
tion of  knowledge,  growth,  strength,  expansion, 
spiritual  weight,  his  mind  attained  during  these 
sixty  years !  And  my  own  body  weighs  at  least 
fifteen  pounds  less  now,  at  fifty-eight,  than  it  did 
at  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  is  at  times  so 
.frail  that  I  cannot  hold  it  up.  And  yet,  in  seasons 
of  physical  prostration,  my  mind  is  often  clearest 
and  strongest. 

Now,  according  to  the  theory  that  mind  is  the 
product  or  "  accident "  of  matter,  all  the  forms  and 
qualities  of  thought  generated  in  the  mind  must 
be  chemically  related  to  the  kind  of  food  ingested, 


Appendix.  165 

and  must  cease  to  exist  from  the  instant  the  parti- 
cles of  matter  which  produced  them,  or  of  which 
they  are  the  accidents,  are  wasted  and  cast  out  of 
the  system.  New  thoughts  would  be  formed  by 
the  introduction  of  new  matter  for  repair,  and 
perish  with  its  waste.  And  repair  and  waste  of 
body  and  mind  would  keep  exact  pace  with  each 
other  from  birth  till  death ;  and  as  no  particle  of 
the  matter  of  a  man's  body  remains  in  it  more 
than  seven  years,  so  no  thought  of  his  mind 
could  remain  for  a  longer  period.  More  :  the  brain 
must  continue  to  produce  these  accidents  in  de- 
creasing proportions,  until  it  is  entirely  decom- 
posed, the  thoughts  diminishing  in  the  exact 
ratio  of  the  decomposition  of  the  brain ;  the 
process  being  kept  up  an  indefinite  period  after 
death.  And  this  is>  what  comes,  logically,  of  Mr. 
Jayram's  "  rigorous  methods "  of  materialistic 
reasoning. 

All  the  facts  of  mental  growth  and  development 
tell  directly  against  this  theory.  Science  and  fact 
never  quarrel ;  and  moreover,  a  man's  bones,  brain, 
nerves,  muscles,  remain  in  the  same  state,  by  the 
process  of  repair,  from  maturity  to  old  age.  But 
what  changes  his  mind  undergoes  !  In  that,  there 
is  constant  increase.  Always  growth,  —  learning 
more  and  more,  never  stopping  in  its  onward 
progress ;  so  that  facts,  which  are  the  basis  of  all 
science,  are  all  against  materialism,  and  in  favoi 


1 66  Appendix. 

of  spiritualism,  —  including   "  theology,"   if  you 
please. 

"  The  first  duty  of  every  one  who  pretends  to 
precision  of  thought  or  language  is  to  analyze  his 
conceptions,  and  understand  the  correct  connotation 
of  words." 

That,  certainly,  has  a  large  sound  to  it,  —  a  pre- 
tentious sound,  as  of  something  great  to  come ; 
and  here  it  comes  :  — 

"  Now,  matter  and  force,  or  energy,  —  turn  these 
conceptions  over  as  you  will,  observe  them  under 
what  applications  you  choose,  they  can  mean,  in 
their  ultimate  resolution,  only  one  and  the  same 
thing  seen  under  different  aspects.  By  matter  we 
understand  neither  more  nor  less  than  'permanent 
possibilities  of  sensation.'  At  any  moment  mat- 
ter is  to  us  nothing  more  than  groups  of  sensations, 
possible  and  actual ;  while  energy  means  their  re- 
arrangements, whether  viewed  as  successive  or 
synchronous."  ..."  Hence  the  frivolity  of  all 
arguments  drawn  from  force  to  establish  a  distinc- 
tion between  matter  and  mind  more  fundamental 
than  is  implied  in  viewing  the  same  thing  from 
different  stand-points." 

That  is  to   say,  a   granite  bowlder  is  neither 


Appendix.  167 

more  nor  less  than  a  "permanent  possibility  of 
sensation,"  always  provided  there  is  somebody 
to  "  sense  "  it.  But  if  there  is  no  one  to  see,  feel, 
hear,  taste  or  smell  it,  then  what  ?  "  Matter  and 
force  mean  only  one  and  the  same  thing,  seen 
under  different  aspects,"  "viewed  from  different 
stand-points."  "Seeing"  and  "viewing"  are  also 
about  "  one  and  the  same  thing." 

Now  what,  according  to  Mr.  Jayram's  science, 
is  to  do  up  the  viewing?  say,  in  such  a  sharp 
discussion  as  this,  between  one  pile  of  matter 
on  a  London  platform,  and  another  here  at  Bos- 
ton, —  as  well  as  in  all  other  cases  ?  "  Science," 
this  philosopher  informs  us,  has  reduced  "  all  the 
phenomena  of  mind  to  the  mere  accidents  of  mat- 
ter ;  and  matter  itself  "  is  neither  more  nor  less 
> 

than  the  permanent  possibilities  of  sensation ;  "  and 
"  to  us,"  —  to  who,  what? — why,  to  the  accidents  of 
matter —  "  nothing  more  than  groups  of  sensations." 
And  "  there  is  no  other  distinction  between  matter 
and  mind  than  is  implied  in  viewing  the  same 
thing  from  different  stand-points." 

Well,  really,  "  science  "  does  reduce  man  to  "  an 
incomprehensible  nonsense  "  indeed.  But  again, 
I  ask  what  is  to  "  view "  the  same  thing  from 
different  stand-points ;  to  study,  analyze,  compare, 
sit  in  judgment  on  the  whole  matter  ?  The  only 
answer  furnished  by  our  lecturer  is,  that  one 
"  permanent  possibility  of  sensation  "  is  to  view 
another. 


1 68  Appendix. 

It  seems  strange  that  any  man  with  mental 
capacity  enough  to  write  a  decent  sentence,  and  to 
understand  that  two  and  two  make  four,  can  stand 
and  think  of  the  vast  dominion  which  the  mind 
of  man  has  attained,  and  wields  over  matter, — 
subduing  it  in  so  many  ways  to  his  absolute  con- 
trol, through  his  mental  powers  only,  —  a  bullock 
having  more  physical  strength,  —  and  then  at- 
tempt to  explain  it  all  by  the  bewildering  array  of 
such  meaningless  words  as  'these  ;  which,  "  turn 
them  over  as  you  will,  observe  them  under  what 
applications  you  choose,"  give  us  not  the  slightest 
clew  to  a  solution  of  the  phenomena  which  he  is 
attempting  to  explain,  but  only  lead  us  deeper 
and  deeper  into  the  mire  of  his  own  confusion. 

And  yet,  unwittingly,  he  does  help  a  certain 
class  of  "  theologians."  Of  course,  he  never  meant 
it  so,  for  they  believe,  with  him,  that  mind  can- 
not exist  separate  from  a  material  body,  —  that 
matter  and  mind,  being  one  thing,  are  one  eter- 
nally. And  the  matter  of  their  bodies,  through 
however  so  many  changes  and  transformations  it 
may  pass,  will  be  recomposed  into  human  bodies 
again.  And  each  body  will  again  contain  its  own 
living,  conscious  soul,  also  recomposed  at  the  same 
time  with  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  therein  to 
live  in  an  eternal  state  of  happiness  and  glory. 
And  so,  in  his  attempts  to  demolish  all  forms  of 
religious  belief,  Mr.  Jayram  has  furnished  in  his 


Appendix.  169 

own  science  a  good  solid  material  buttress  for  one 
which  we  thought  would  soon  tumble  down  of 
itself.  And  I  think  that  both  it  and  our  Hindoo's 
science  will  fall  together. 

Here  comes  Mr.  Jayram's  explanation  of  the 
whole  subject :  — 

"  I  believe  it  is  now  an  asserted  doctrine  of  sci- 
ence, at  least,  that  each  manifestation  of  mind  is 
possible  only  as  a  manifestation  of  energy.  Each 
sensation  —  each  act  of  thought  or  volition  —  is 
simply  a  resultant  of  other  forms  of  energy,  kinet- 
ic and  potential.  Some  antecedent  energy  of  move- 
ment, external  or  internal,  gives  rise^  to  a  change 
of  potential  nervous  energy,  existing  in  the  shape 
of  unstable  arrangements  of  nerve-matter,  to  actual 
energy  of  nerve  currents,  signifying  processes  of 
stable  arrangement,  while  the  change  itself  con- 
stitutes a  state  of  mind." 

I  have  already  stated  that  aptness  of  illustra- 
tion is  my  full  apology  for  the  intrusion  of  per- 
sons into  this  discussion,  and  will  add  some  easily- 
supposed  conditions  to  the  case  of  our. author  for 
this  purpose.  He  is  a  young  Hindoo,  educated  in 
England ;  and,  abandoning  his  hereditary  belief  in 
innumerable  gods,  he  has  gone,  very  naturally 
at  first,  to  the  other  extreme  of  believing  in  none. 
He  left  his  father  and  mother,  we  will  suppose, 


1 70  Appendix. 

still  living  in  India,  firm  adherents  to  the  ancient 
faith,  and  clinging  fast  to  its  ancient  rites.  Let 
us  suppose,  that,  while  he  is  delivering  this  lecture 
in  South-place  Chapel,  a  person,  with  nothing 
peculiar  in  his  looks  or  manners  to  attract  atten- 
tion, quietly  enters,  and,  in  a  tone  of  voice  marked 
by  no  emotion,  requests  the  speaker's  attention  for 
a  moment. 

He  pauses,  and  the  visitor  proceeds,  in  the  same 
tone  of  voice,  to  state  that  his  father  died  but 
yesterday ;  that  the  funeral  ceremonies  had  all 
been  arranged  according  to  time-honored  customs  ; 
and  that  to-night  —  at  this  very  moment  —  his 
mother,  true  and  loyal  to  ancient  Hindoo  usages 
and  traditions,  had  given  up  her  body  a  living 
sacrifice  to  her  religious  faith,  and  it  was  now 
being  consumed  by  the  devouring  flames  on  the 
same  funereal  pile  with  that  of  his  father.  In  such 
a  case,  the  lecturer  would  be  overwhelmed  with 
grief,  and  would  sink  back  in  his  chair,  utterly  un- 
able to  proceed. 

Now,  what,  upon  his  theory,  would  be  the  cause 
of  this  sudden  and  painful  revulsion  of  feeling? 
The  only,  or,  at  best,  the  chief  explanation  in  his 
whole  lecture,  is  given  in  the  above  extract :  let 
us  see  what  it  amounts  to :  — 

"  Some  antecedent  energy  of  movement,  exter- 
nal or  internal,  gives  rise  to  a  change  of  potential 


Appendix.  171 

nervous  energy  existing  in  the  shape  of  unstable 
arrangements  of  nerve-matter,  to  actual  energy 
of  nerve  currents,  signifying  processes  of  stable 
arrangement;  while  the  change  itself  constitutes 
a  state  of  mind." 

There  we  have  it !  Who  shall  say  that  all  the 
mysteries  of  the  human  soul  are  not  solved,  after 
this  ?  But  let  us  not  hurry  the  conclusion  ;  let  us 
examine  a  little.  "  Some  antecedent  energy : " 
this  is  altogether  too  loose  and  indefinite  for  one 
who  insists  on  such  "rigorous  modes  of  reasoning, 
and  precision  of  language."  As  scientific  inves- 
tigators, we  have  a  right  to  know,  upon  your 
theory,  precisely  what  this  "  antecedent  energy  " 
i*,  which,  in  a  case  like  this,  would  cause  the  most 
sudden  and  painful  revulsion  of  feeling.  You, 
Mr.  Jayram,  have  not  given  us  the  slightest  clew, 
as  to  what  this  —  in  your  loose  language  — 
"  some  "  antecedent  energy  is ;  so  we  will  try  and 
find  it  without  your  help. 

In  this  case,  it  is  not  the  body  of  the  messenger, 
it  is  not  his  deportment,  it  is  not  his  voice ;  for 
there  is  nothing  unusual  in  any  of  these :  but  this 
energy  is  wholly  in  the  idea  which  he  communi- 
cates. It  is  altogether  mental,  and  altogether 
mentally  received.  And  if,  instead  of  communi- 
cating the  supposed  painful  intelligence,  the  mes- 
senger had  stated  that  the  lecturer's  parents  had 


1 72  Appendix. 

just  arrived  in  London,  full  converts  to  the  theo- 
ries of  their  son,  and  awaiting  to  embrace  him, 
instead  of  grief,  he  would  be  filled  with  joy  and 
satisfaction.  The  antecedent  energy  —  in  one  case 
causing  pain,  and  in  the  other  pleasure. 

Now,  it  may  be  hard  for  a  materialist  to  believe 
that  ideas  are,  really  the  forces  —  energies  —  which 
cause  and  govern  all  the  phenomena  of  nature. 
Let  him  find  these  forces  elsewhere  if  he  can. 
And,  in  the  case  here  supposed,  all  the  changes  ef- 
fected begin  in  the  mind,  —  mind  moving  and  act- 
ing upon  matter.  But,  according  to  our  Hindoo 
scientist  and  philosopher,  the  agonies  of  feeling 
and  the  physical  prostration,  in  a  case  like  this, 
have  their  origin  in  some  change  of  matter.  But 
I  have  stated,  and  the  lecturer  himself  must  agree 
with  me,  that  neither  the  sight  of  the  messenger, 
the  sound  of  his  voice,  nor  his  manner,  could  pos- 
sibly produce  the  described  effect  in  such  a  case. 
And  he,  and  every  honest,  thoughtful  man  must 
agree,  that  the  only  energy  or  force  in  the  case  is 
mind  force ;  and  that  all  the  changes  and  acts  of 
the  body  are  caused  wholly  by  the  mind,  including 
the  waste  of  the  brain,  nerves,  and  all  the  tissues. 

Farther  on  he  tells  us,  "  The  first  business  of 
the  militant  Hindoo,  then,  is  to  insist  upon  the 
broad  and  impassable  distinction  between  the 
knowable  and  unknowable.  The  sphere  of  the 
former  is  rightly  defined  by  matter  and  its  proper- 


Appendix.  1 73 

ties.     Matter  and  its  properties  are  the  only  things 
possible  to  human  cognition." 

And  I  have  already  quoted  our  author  as  say- 
ing, —  "  At  any  moment,  matter  is  to  us  nothing 
more  than  groups  of  sensations,  possible  and 
actual."  Let  him  make  the  application  to  a  case 
like  the  one  supposed,  and  to  the  thousands  of 
actual  cases  of  deepest  sensations  of  sorrow  and 
grief,  and  of  joy  and  satisfaction,  which  are  occur- 
ring in  London,  and  wheresoever  mankind  dwell, 
every  day  and  hour  of  their  lives,  —  and  in  every 
case  of  which  the  shades  of  sensation  differ  widely, 
—  and  show  precis'ely  how  matter  varies  its  action 
to  cause  these  differences.  And,  further,  what 
causes  the  matter  —  groups  of  sensation  —  to  act. 
Do  it  now;  or  admit  that  the  attempt  to  apply  the 
tests  of  material  science  to  the  phenomena  of 
mind  are,  to  say  the  least,  childish  and  puerile. 

But  let  us  not  leave  this  "  antecedent  energy  " 
just  yet.  I  have  quoted  Mr.  Jayram  as  saying, 
"  The  series  of  phenomena  which,  in  their  concrete 
entirety,  we  denominate  soul  or  mind,  is  never  seen 
independently  of  the  body."  He  forgets  what  he 
has  said  about  "  precision  of  language "  here, 
when  he  talks  of  seeiny  mind  or  soul ;  but  I  pass 
that  over,  as  his  meaning  is  clear,  and  adopt  his 
word.  l>ut  what  if  mind  is  never  seen  indepen- 
dently of  a  body,  does  it  follow  that  it  is  always 
seen  in  connection  with  a  body?  lie  has,  doubt- 


1 74  Appendix. 

less,  seen  many  bodies,  without  the  slightest  traces 
of  mind  in  connection  with  them.  And  some  hu- 
man bodies  have  been  preserved  hundreds,  yes, 
thousands  of  years,  without  giving  a  single  trace 
of  mind  during  all  these  years.  And  these  bodies 
were  preserved  by  a  process  invented  by  —  by  — 
what?  Why,  "the  mere  accidents"  of  some 
other  bodies.  And  we  have  also  been  told,  in 
short,  that  there  is  no  other  difference  between 
matter  and  mind  than  "is  implied  in  viewing  the 
same  thing  from  different  stand-points." 

If  mind  is  never  seen  independently  of  a  bo  ly — 
matter,  and  if  matter  and  mind  are  one  thing, 
then  how  is  it  that  mind  is  not  always  "  seen  "  in 
connection  with  matter,  —  all  forms  and  varieties 
of  it  ?  A  granite  rock  giving  forth  one  manifesta- 
tion, a  block  of  marble  another,  trap-rock  another, 
gneiss  another,  copper,  tin,  lead,  iron,  and  so  on, 
to  the  end  of  the  chapter,  giving  forth  signs  of 
mind  ?  And  who  shall  say  that  they  do  not  ? 
and  that  these  solid  minerals  are  not  the  forms 
in  which  the  forces-  of  the  human  mind  itself  are 
preserved  in  a  latent  or  potential  state,  ready  to 
be  developed  and  unfolded  into  active  power 
through  a  most  wonderfully  complex  material  or- 
ganism? And  before  the  matter  of  which  this 
organism  is  composed  —  these  rocks,  this  iron,  and 
whatsoever  is  to  enter  into  the  structure  of  this 
body  —  can  go  there,  and  form  a  part  thereof,  it 


Appendix.  175 

must  be  pulverized,  triturated,  and  reduced  to 
gases  and  fluids ;  and,  after  passing  through  changes 
which  are  still  a  mystery,  must  re-appear  in  new 
forms ;  and,  if  not  endowed  with  new  life,  that 
which  was  before  latent  must  now  become  active 
and  potential.  And  the  matter  must  be  reduced 
to  gases  and  fluids  again,  before  they  can  form  the 
complex  mechanism  of  a  human  body.  So  it  re- 
quires crude  matter  to  undergo  a  great  deal  of 
preparation,  involving  many  changes,  before  it  can 
be  at  all  fitted  as  an  organ  or  instrument  of  the 
human  mind. 

J>ut  what  is  to  pulverize  these  mineral  sub- 
stances, —  carry  them  through  all  these  changes, 
from  rock  to  gas  and  fluid,  then  to  vegetable,  and 
then  into  all  the  tissues  of  a  human  body  through 
which  mind  can  manifest  itself  in  such  infinitely 
varied  forms?  What  is  to  do  it  all?  Why,  we 
have  been  told  already.  It  is  "  some  antecedent 
energy  of  movement."  And  what  is  that,  pray  ? 
Well,  Mr.  Jayram  knows  all  about  it;  for  he  tells 
us  that,  — 

"The  very  idea  that  there  is  something  un- 
knowable, over  and  above  the  knowable,  —  some- 
thing incomprehensible,  over  and  above  the  com- 
prehensible, —  is  a  mere  freak,  or  unguarded  slip 
of  thought,  engendered  by  a  peculiarity  of  lan- 
guage used  in  connection  with  such  discussions. 


1 76  Appendix. 

Because  the  word  'knowable,'  by  a  law  of  rela- 
tive association,  gives  rise  to  or  suggests  its  oppo- 
site, the  unknowable,  we  are  deluded  into  the 
belief  that,  as  something  real  and  actual  in  the 
objective  world  corresponds  to  its  subjective  no- 
tation, knowable,  so  there  must  also  be  something 
real  and  actual  in  objective  existence  correspond- 
ing to  the  opposite  subjective  notation,  unknowa- 
ble ;  though  in  the  latter  case  the  notation  is 
simply  a  notation  of  negation." 

It  must  be  admitted  that  Mr.  Jay  ram  has  a 
large  stock  of  words  at  his  command;  and  he 
does,  somehow,  manage  to  "  darken  counsel "  by 
them. 

Does  light  imply  darkness,  cold  suppose  heat, 
positive  involve  negative,  limitable  the  illimitable, 
finite  the  infinite,  comprehensible  suggest  or  pre- 
sume the  other  extreme  term,  incomprehensible  ? 
or  because  there  are  things  known  and  knowable, 
does  it  follow  that  there  are  things  unknown  and 
unknowable  ?  Mr.  Jayram  tells  us  not.  That  to 
believe  one  extreme  term  supposes  the  other,  and 
is  dependent  upon  it,  is  "  preposterous  "  "  a  mere 
freak,  or  unguarded  slip  of  thought."  And  so  all 
these  antithetic  ideas  are  "  neither  more  nor  less 
than  one  thing,  seen  under  different  aspects,  and 
viewed  from  different  stand-points."  And  he 
says,  further,  — 


Appendix.  177 

"  Surely,  there  is  —  there  can  be  —  neither 
value  nor  instruction  in  simply  saying  that  cer- 
tain phenomena  are  yet  unexplained,  choose  what 
words  you  please  to  say  it.  There  is  not,  cer- 
tainly, more  wisdom  conveyed  in  this  change  of  ex- 
pression, than  in  the  oracular  deliverance  of  the 
quack,  who,  being  asked  why  opium  produced 
sleep,  gravely  propounded,  because  it  was  sopo- 
rific." 

And  so,  when  we  ask  this  philosopher  what 
this  "antecedent  energy  "is,  which  performs  all 
these  processes  and  operations  in  the  universe  of 
mind  and  matter,  he  "  gravely  propounds,"  —  It  is 
"  force."  And  that  is  his  "  oracular  deliverance." 

Having  thus  proved  to  his  satisfaction  that  his 
soul  is  "  a  mere  accident "  of  his  body,  and  that 
both  will  perish  together,  Mr.  Jayram  next  as- 
sails the  strongholds  of  theism,  and  attempts  to 
demolish  God,  by  the  same  "  rigorous  reasoning 
and  precision  of  language  "  that  have  given  him 
tsui-h  a  victory  over  the  "theologians."  Before 
giving  ear  to  him  on  this  point,  I  wish  to  intro- 
duce some  remarks  and  illustrations. 

Some  people  are  piqued  at  the  idea  that  there  is 
any  thing  in  the  universe  which  is  greater  and 
knows  more  than  man  does.  And  the  idea  of  an 
Infinite  Intelligence,  which  orders,  arranges,  and 
presides-  over  all  the  processes  and  operations  of 


1 78  Appendix. 

Nature,  excites  their  hostility ;  and  they  greedily 
lay  hold  of  any  supposed  fact  or  theory  which  they 
can  turn  against  it.  And  theologians  themselves 
are  largely  responsible  for  this  hostility ;  for  they 
have  tried  to  clothe  this  Intelligence  —  God  — 
with  many  inhuman  and  most  hateful  attributes, 
and  have  resorted  to  the  most  infamous  crimes  to 
enforce  their  peculiar  dogmas  upon  the  acceptance 
of  others ;  and  as,  — 

"  The  name  of  God  has  fenced  about  all  crime  with  holiness," 

this  name  and  idea  has  also  become  an  offence  to 
many  humane  and  thoughtful  people.  And  so  the 
question  of  mere  character  came  at  length  to  be 
a  question  of  existence  or  fact ;  and  the  contro- 
versy, from  certain  causes,  acquired  great  interest 
about  the  close  of  the  last,  and  the  beginning  of 
the  present,  century. 

What  cause  underlies  the  orderly,  methodical, 
and  constantly-recurring  processes  and  operations 
of  Nature,  with  their  fixed  and  certain  produc- 
tions ?  Are  they  the  results  of  an  inventive, 
creative,  and  formative  Mind  ?  Up  to  that  period, 
there  had  been  no  full,  clear,  and  methodical  state- 
ment of  reasons,  based  upon  the  facts  and  phe- 
nomena of  Nature,  to  prove  the  affirmative  of  this 
question.  Everybody  saw  the  products,  but  had 
not  thought  of  the  how  or  why  they  were  pro- 
duced. And  here  let  me  use  an  illustration  :  — 


Appendix.  1 79 

Cotton  is  grown  of  several  grades,  and  is 
wrought  into  different  fabrics,  —  species  ;  and  the 
species,  again,  into  varieties.  •  The  species  of  can- 
vas, or  duck,  from  heavy  to  light,  in  several 
varieties ;  species  of  flannels,  drillings,  sheetings, 
and  so  on,  with  their  several  varieties  of  fine, 
coarse,  &c.  There  are  millions  of  people  who  are 
utterly  ignorant  as  to  how  these  cloths  are  made  ; 
yet  nobody  ever  imagined  that  a  single  one  of 
them  ever  happened.  And  the  great  mass  of 
unscientific  minds  have  fallen  into  the  notion, 
that  these  cotton  fibres  could  not  have  accident- 
ally arranged  themselves  in  groups,  —  the  coarse 
in  one,  the  middling  in  another,  the  fine  in 
another,  and  so  on  ;  and  then  to  have  acci- 
dentally twisted  themselves  into  threads,  in 
size  corresponding  to  the  size  of  the  fibre  ; 
and  then,  again,  to  have  accidentally  woven 
themselves  into  these  different  species  and  varie- 
ties of  fabrics,  which  are  so  nicely  adapted  to 
their  various  uses.  They  will  persist  in  believing 
that  all  these  processes  and  operations,  with  all  tbe 
buildings  and  machinery,  must  be  the  results  of 
design,  which  involves  a  designing  mind.  While 
some  shake  their  heads  in  doubt, — they  are  not 
going  to  swallow  both  Jonah  and  the  whale.  They 
are  too  scientific  for  that. 

And  an  investigator  gqes  into  an  examination 
of  the  subject,  and  shows,  in  an  elaborate  and  un- 


I8o  Appendix. 

answerable  argument,  that  the  production  of  such 
a  variety  of  fabrics,  with  the  fibres  and  threads  so 
nicely  adapted  to  the  texture,  and  all  to  the  use,  — 
the  invention  and  construction  of  the  machinery 
by  which  they  are  produced,  the  building  in  which 
the  machinery  is  located,  and  the  wise  adaptation 
of  force  to  the  whole,  proves  conclusively  the  "  an- 
tecedent energy  "  of  an  inventive,  designing  mind. 
That  was  Mr.  Paley ;  and,  on  the  publication  of  his 
book,  every  form  of  atheistic  and  materialistic  ar- 
gument was  arrayed  against  it.  But  the  argu- 
ment still  stands,  and  will  stand. 

Later,  another  investigator  enters  a  certain  part 
of  the  field :  he  is,  in  this  relation,  what  Mr.  Jay- 
ram  calls  "  a  mere  specialist."  He  wishes  only  to 
ascertain  what  the  cloth  is,  and  how  it  is  made. 
As  to  who  invented  the  machinery,  built  the  fac- 
tory, put  the  machinery  in  it,  and  set  it  all  in  opera- 
tion, he  does  not  inquire.  He  is  neither  inventor 
nor  builder ;  and  these  matters  lie  outside  of  his 
province.  So  he  goes  into  the  great  manufactory, 
thoroughly  .examines  the  goods,  the  machinery  by 
which  they  are  made,  the  relation  of  room  to  room 
(country  to  country),  the  temperature  of  the  va- 
rious rooms  (climatic  influences),  the  nice  and  fa- 
vorable adaptation  of  all  the  arrangements  to  the 
production  of  all  the  various  species  and  varieties 
of  fabrics  (the  laws  of  selection,  &c.)  of  the  whole 
establishment.  But  he  does  not  inquire  who  de- 


Appendix.  1 8 1 

»• 

signed  and  built  the  factory,  invented  the  machin- 
ery, and  set  it  in  operation  :  he  leaves  these  topics 
to  others.  He  found  the  factory  built,  and  all  the 
machinery  at  work.  And  if  others  choose  to 
search  out  these  matters,  they  can  do  so:  he  has 
taken  them  for  granted.  He  writes  his  book  on 
his  branch  of  the  subject.  That  is  Mr.  Darwin. 
And  if  anybody  says  Mr.  Darwin  is  trying  to  rule 
the  idea  of  an  intelligent  Cause  of  the  phenomena 
of  nature  out  of  the  universe,  they  say  it  on  their 
responsibility,  not  his.  But  the  subject  is  yet  under 
discussion,  and  so  is,  to  some  minds,  still  debatable. 
And  now  comes  Mr.  Jayram,  full  of  confidence 
and  assurance,  stalking  into  the  arena,  and  deal- 
ing out  his  blows  anywhere,  everywhere,  hit  or 
miss.  Let  us  hear  him  ;  but  we  pass  over  his  first 
fire  as  inconsequential,  as  it  is  entirely  lost  in  its 
own  echoes,  and  attend  to  the  next. 

"  The  second  source  of  contribution  to  the  theis- 
tic  argument  used  to  be  supplied  in  the  now  ex- 
ploded doctrine  of  design.  The  venerable  Pale}r, 
with  his  '  Natural  Theology,'  has  taken  his  final 
rest,  let  us  hope,  among  those  that  have  been.  At 
any  rate,  we  shall  not  disturb  him  or  his  theology 
in  his  grave.  All  reconsideration  of  the  argument 
put  forth  therein  is  now  rendered  supererogatory, 
particularly  after  the  publication  of  Darwin's 
great  work  on  the  '  Origin  of  Species.'  Irrespect- 


1 82  Appendix. 

ive  of  the  grand  service  it  has  rendered  to  biolo- 
gy, .its  merit  in  having  given  the  death-blow  to  a 
rotten  speculation  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated. 
But,  though  one  phase  of  the  contest  is  over,  an- 
other has  succeeded  it ;  and,  strange  to  say,  the 
very  book  which  put  the  final  seal  of  silence  on 
tlie  first,  has  occasioned  the  advent  of  the  second. 
The  fault,  however,  is  not  in  the  book,  but  in 
those  who  could  not,  or  would  not,  understand  it. 
It  is  a  well-known  fact,  that  its  opponents  continue 
to  this  day  to  find  fault  with  it  for  not  explaining 
things  which  do  not  properly  fall  within  its  scope." 

The  burden  of  Mr.  Jayram's  lecture  is,  to  dis- 
prove the  existence  of  any  intelligent  directing 
force  in  nature :  and,  indeed,  of  all  force,  except 
what  grows  out  of  matter,  —  stones,  &c.  But  his 
special  point  is  made  against  theism.  And  one 
would  suppose  that  Darwin's  great  work  on  the 
"  Origin  of  Species  "  (explaining  how  the  cloth  is 
made)  had  furnished  him  with  an  ample  supply  of 
unanswerable  arguments  on  that  side  of  the  ques- 
tion,—  that  the  factory  had  no  designer.  But,  on 
sifting  down  these  arguments,  we  find  nothing  left 
but  an  array  of  "words  of  learned  length  and 
thundering  sound  ; "  for,  in  the  very  next  sentence, 
he  tells  us  that  Mr.  Darwin  does  not  say  one 
word  upon  the  subject  of  theology.  Speaking  of 
his  book,  he  says,  — 


Appendix.  183 

"It  professes  only  to  explain  how  favorable 
tendencies  in  variation  are  fixed  upon  and  consol- 
idated into  specific  distinctions,  by  the  operation 
of  certain  intelligible  causes,  which,  taken  to- 
gether, are  denominated  here,  figuratively,  the 
'  law  of  natural  selection.'  It  has  nothing  to  do 
with,  and  does  not  pretend  to  propound,  how  these 
favorable  tendencies  themselves  come  into  exist- 
ence. It  takes  them  for  granted,  and  shows  only 
how  they  are  utilized  by  the  law,  which  it  is  its 
special  merit  to  have  discovered,  in  directions 
never  before  dreamed  of. " 

That  is  true.  Mr.  Darwin  does  not  raise  the 
question  of  primeval  causation  at  all.  And  you, 
Mr.  Jayram.  are  deluding  yourself,  when  you  think 
you  have  made  the  slightest  effective  use  of  them 
as  against  the  argument  from  design.  Now,  please 
tell  us  "  how  these  favorable  tendencies  themselves 
came  into  existence  "  ?  Who  built  the  factory,  in- 
vented the  machinery,  set  it  up,  applied  the  force, 
and  put  it  all  in  operation  ?  You  reply,  "  Noth- 
ing :  it  was  built  before  ;  it  never  was  built. " 
That  is  a  "  a  rotten  speculation,"  which  "  Darwin's 
great  work "  has  "  exploded,"  and  "  given  the 
death-blow  to,  and  put  the  final  seal  of  silence  on 
it."  Nay,  nay ;  but  how  came  "  these  favorable 
tendencies "  ?  You  say,  "  It  takes  them  for 
granted."  The  ostrich  buries  its  head  in  the 


1 84  Appendix. 

sand,  when  hard  pushed ;  and  you  attempt  to  hide 
yours  under  the  following  heap :  — 

"  And  yet,  strangely  enough,  as  human  perver- 
sity would  have  it,  this  has  led,  on  the  one  side,  to 
a  world  of  misrepresentation  and  had  criticism ; 
while,  on  the  other,  it  has  given  rise  to  a  new 
school  of  theistic  philosophy,  not  better  entitled  to 
consideration  than  the  one  it  has  so  effectually 
abolished. 

"  To  view  this  protean  error  in  its  new  metamor- 
phosis :  Since  the  principle  of  natural  selection, 
however  successfully  it  unriddles  what  were  once 
supposed  to  be  mysterious  cases  of  design,  affords 
no  explanation  for  the  origin  of  favorable  tenden- 
cies in  variation,  it  has  been  imagined  that  the 
ground  of  design  might  safely  be  shifted  from  the 
old  position  of  Paley,  no  longer  tenable,  to  this 
new  one,  of  unexplained  .variations.  One  might 
almost  be  tempted  to  believe  that  people  actually 
deplore  the  advances  of  knowledge,  when  he  sees 
how  they  hug  and  hail  every  remnant  of  mystery 
as  a  sacred  relic  of  salvation,  safe  yet  from  the 
sacrilegious  hand  of  science.  In  self-congratula- 
tions on  their  present  escape  from  that  which  a 
while  since  threatened  total  ruin,  they  seem  to 
forget  that  the  contest  is  not  yet  over,  that  the 
dreaded  enemy  is  still  advancing  steadily,  that  a 
momentary  respite  is  not  permanent  immunity 


Appendix.  185 

from  danger.  It  never  seems  to  occur  to  them 
that  their  present  position  may  prove  quite  as  fal- 
lacious —  quite  as  untenable  —  as  any  of  those 
they  have  been  compelled  so  often  to  abandon. 
Even  stern  experience  teaches  them  no  prudence. 
Though  the  burned  dog  dreads  the  fire,  the  burned 
theologian  never  does.  Happy  insensibility,  but 
pregnant  with  ruin  !  " 

We  have  listened  to  your  grandiloquent  words  ; 
now  let  us  return  to  the  point  again.  We  left  off 
here,  —  "  It  takes  them  for  granted." 

Does  science  take  things  for  granted?  Now, 
when  we  come  to  the  very  pith  and  marrow  of  the 
whole  subject,  you  go  off  into  a  long  string  of 
words,  almost  enough  to  stun  people  with  their 
din,  but  which  give  us  no  light  or  clew  to  unravel 
the  mystery  in  which  we  are  involved.  And  with 
these  words,  you  think  to  rout  the  whole  host  of 
theologians.' 

Science  takes  nothing  for  granted.  It  reasons  from 
effects  to  their  causes;  and  when  it  has  certainly  as- 
certained the  causes  of  any  phenomena,  it  concludes 
that  the  same  causes,  acting  under  the  same  condi- 
tions, will  invariably  produce  the  same  eifects.  It 
never  finds  effects  before  causes,  nor  elevated  above 
or  greater  than  causes.  So,  when  it  contemplates 
this  world  full  of  men,  with  their  joys,  sorrows, 
loves,  hopes,  aspirations,  ambitions,  vast  powers  of 


1 86       •  Appendix. 

conception,  invention,  execution,  —  all  that  make 
up  the  sum  of  human  life,  with  the  innumerable 
forms  of  life  below  man,  and  the  vast,  complicated 
systems  in  the  universe  above  him,  swayed,  moved, 
and  controlled  by  powers  utterly  above  and  beyond 
him,  Science,  reasoning  from  cause  to  eifect,  says, 
Force  is  only  born  of  force ;  life  comes  only  of  that 
which  is  alive  ;  the  power  to  reason  comes  only 
from  the  power  to  reason ;  intelligence  comes  only 
of  that  which  is  intelligent ;  the  power  to  in- 
vent, construct,  build,  comes  only  from  the  power 
to  invent,  construct,  build;  and  so  on,  through  the 
whole  circle  of  human  capacity  and  affection.  And 
it  looks  upon  this  vast  system  of  the  universe,  in  all 
its  grandest  outlines  and  minutest  details,  includ- 
ing Mr.  Darwin's  facts  and  speculations  on  them, 
together  with  your  misuse  of  them,  as  effects  of  a , 
constantly  operating  cause,  which  is  fully  equal  to 
their  production. 

In  addition  to  taking  these  "favorable  tenden- 
cies "  for  granted,  we  are  told  that  Mr.  Darwin's 
book  "  shows  how  they  were  utilized  by  the  law, 
&c."  And  so  it  was  the  "law"  that  did  the  work, 
after  all.  What  law  ?  and  how  came  it  into  existence  ? 
Did  blind,  unthinking  chance  or  accident  ever 
establish  any  fixed  and  orderly  rules  of  procedure, 
in  any  relation  whatever?  We  have  always  sup- 
posed that  the  existence  of  a  law  was  sufficient 
proof  of  an  intelligence  and  power,  somewhere,  fully 


Appendix.  187 

competent  to  establish  it.  Is  that  idea  "  exploded  " 
also  ?  We  are  told,  further,  that  Mr.  Darwin 
discovered  the  law.  Possibly  another  voyage  may 
lead  to  the  discovery  that'  this  law  is  no  other 
than  the  established  order  or  method  by  which  the 
Infinite  Intelligence  of  the  universe  carries  on  its 
formative  operations. 

The  main  point  in  the  controversy  between  Mr. 
Jay  ram  and  the  spiritualists,  or  religionists,  and 
theologians,  is  involved  in  the  question  which  he 
declines  to  answer,  or  even  to  consider.  He  thinks 
Mr.  Darwin's  book  has  forever  silenced  all  argu- 
ments to  be  drawn  from  nature,  in  favor  of  an  in- 
telligent, designing  Mind,  as  being  antecedent  to 
and  working  through  its  processes  and  operations. 
And  then,  as  if  to  anticipate  any  questions  which 
might  arise  on  this  very  point,  which  Darwin  did 
not  touch,  he  says,  "  It  professes  only  to  explain 
how  favorable  tendencies,  in  variation,  are  fixed 
upon  and  consolidated  into  specific  distinctions  by 
the  operation  of  certain  intelligible  causes." 

An  intelligible  cause  is  a  cause  which  we  can 
comprehend.  What  are  the  causes  which  Mr. 
Darwin  refers  to  ?  All  the  material  conditions  un- 
der which  organic  life  is  formed  and  subsists,  —  such 
as  earth,  water,  light,  air,  temperature,  peculiarities 
of  climate,  soil,  moist,  dry,  &c.,  &c.  Birds  that 
live  upon  the  creatures  that  swarm  in  marshes  and 
shallow  waters  have  long  legs  and  bills.  Mr, 


1 88  Appendix. 

Darwin  thinks  that  the  birds  may  originally  have 
had  short  legs  and  bills  ;  and  the  necessity  of  wad- 
ing after  their  food  may  have  caused  them  to  grow 
long.  (Although  it  may  be  urged,  with  equal  force, 
that  birds  with  short  legs  and  bills  have  descended 
from  ancestors  with  long  ones  ;  but,  falling  under 
conditions  where  long  ones  were  not  necessary  to 
the  modes  of  life,  they  have  become  short.)  So 
in  regard  to  mammals.  Such  as  climb  trees  for 
their  food  have  long,  sharp  claws,  and  long,  verti- 
cal pupils.  Their  pupils  may  have  been  originally 
round,  and  their  nails  short,  and  that  "  natural  se- 
lection" caused  both  to  grow  long  (the  converse 
of  this  is  equally  good)  ;  and  all  other  creatures  he 
finds  adapted  to  their  conditions. 

And  Mr.  Jayram  thinks  these  speculations  have 
completely  demolished  all  ideas  of  intelligent  caus- 
ation. But  when  we  ask,  How  came  all  these  "fa- 
vorable tendencies,"  and  these  "  intelligible  caus- 
es," to  be  so  nicely  arranged  and  adjusted  as  to 
produce  all  this  orderly  succession  of  fixed  and  es- 
tablished forms  of  organic  life,  each  so  nicely  adapt- 
ed to  all  the  necessities  of  its  own  existence,  he 
complains  of  "  human  perversity,"  and  that  we  have 
"shifted  the  grounds  of  design  from  the  old  one  of 
Paley,  to  this  new  one  of  "  unexplained  variations ; " 
and  seems  to  think  it  unfair,  after  he  has  tried  so 
hard  to  overthrow  the  "  theologians,"  that  they 
should  compel  him  to  fight  his  battles  all  over 


Appendix.  189 

again.  Well,  he  invited  the  conflict :  let  him  be 
content  with  the  issue. 

But  let  us  not  leave  this  matter  of  "  xmexplained 
variations  "  quite  yet.  The  notion  is  quite  prev- 
alent that  the  argument  from  design  goes  to  this 
extent :  that  God  created  man,  and  all  other  be- 
ings, directly,  as  a  human  mechanic  makes  any 
piece  of  handiwork;  and  that  he  made  all  the  class- 
es, orders,  species  of  animals  perfect,  at  the  out- 
set ;  and  that  no  change  or  transformation  has 
occurred  in  any  of  them  since.  Now,  the  argu- 
ment really  involves  no  such  limited  idea.  For  it 
includes  the  "  evolution "  theory,  and  all  other 
theories  as  well. 

Mr.  Darwin  thinks  that  all  the  forms  of  organic 
life  have  been  evolved  through  slowly-advancing, 
step-by-step  processes,  by  the  operation  of  natural 
causes.  But  he  does  not  consider  how  these  causes 
themselves  came  into  existence  ;  nor  whence 
came,  or  how  the  force  is  supplied,  which  set  and 
keeps  them  all  in  operation.  And  yet  he  knows, 
and  everybody  else  knows  as  well,  that  a  cotton- 
gin  which  clears  cotton  of  the  seeds  with  great 
speed  and  perfection,  is  as  clear  a  proof  of  design 
in  the  preparation  of  cotton  for  use,  as  the  slow 
and  laborious  mode  of  picking  out  the  seeds  by 
hand  is. 

Let  us  use  another  simple  illustration.  Stock- 
ings are  made  by  hand,  by  the  aid  of  a  few  littla 


190  Appendix. 

pieces  of  wire,  and  have  been  so  made  from  time 
immemorial.  My  friend  Carey  has  invented,  — 
"  designed,"  and  set  a  machine  in  operation,  which, 
if  it  can  get  hold  of  one  end  of  a  spool  of  yarn, 
will  draw  it  in,  and,  stitch  by  stitch,  "  work  and 
weave,"  narrow  down  the  leg,  turn  and  finish  the 
heel,  shape  out  the  instep  and  foot,  narrow  off  the 
toe,  and  pass  a  whole  completed  stocking  out  at 
the  other  end ;  and  immediately  re-adjust  itself, 
commence,  and  complete  another ;  and  so  on  in- 
definitely, turning  out  these  articles  with  a  rapid- 
ity truly  surprising.  And  what  is  more,  all  the 
required  changes  in  the  action  of  the  parts  neces- 
sary to  make  the  stocking  of  the  desired  size  and 
shape  are  effected  automatically. 

Somebody  —  Darwip,  it  may  be  — -  writes  an 
elaborate  and  interesting  description  of  this  ma- 
chine, and  its  mode  of  producing  stockings ; 
and  that  its  power  of  production  is  immensely 
greater  than  the  three  or  four  pieces  of  straight 
wire  and  ten  fingers.  But  he  does  not  inquire 
about  the  inventor,  —  designer,  —  does  not  even 
ask  his  name.  And  yet  he  knows  that  the  making 
and  adjustment  of  that  machine  were  all  the  work 
of  human  hands  ;  and  that  these  hands  were  gov- 
erned in  all  their  movements  by  an  intelligent, 
designing  mind  ;  and  without  this  mind,  the  hands 
could  not  move,  —  the  machine  could  not  exist ; 
and  the  mind  is  really  manifested  in  all  the  move' 


Appendix.  191 

men-is  and  operations  of  the  machine  also.  And 
Mr.  Darwin  is  wise  enough  to  apply  the  same 
laws,  though  under  different  forms  of  operation, 
to  the  grand  mechanisms  of  Nature,  with  all 
their  varied  and  innumerable  products ;  but  this 
last  part  of  the  subject,  being  deeper  than  human 
plummet  can  yet  sound,  he  wastes  no  time  in  the 
attempt. 

Well,  Mr.  Jayram,  being  a  born  prince,  doubt- 
less wore  stockings  in  India ;  while  it  is  equally 
doubtful  if  he  had  ever  seen  them  made.  And 
yet  he  may  very  naturally  have  supposed  them  to 
be  the  result  of  some  designing  mind.  But,  on 
coming  to  England,  he  falls  into  the  drift  of  "  sci- 
entific thought "  in  that  country,  and  begins  to 
doubt.  He  reads  Mr.  Darwin's  book  on  the  knit- 
ting-machine, and  its  transformation  of  yarn  into 
stitches,  and  of  stitches  into  leg,  ankle,  heel,  foot, 
and  toe,  a  complete  species  of  stocking,  with 
all  its  varieties  ;  and  his  faith  in  thirty  million 
gods  vanishes  into  thin  air;  and  before  he  has 
had  time  to  more  than  fill  their  places  with  the 
grand,  yet  truthful  and  beautiful  idea  that  — 

•"  All  arc  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole 
Who^c  body  nature  is,  :md  God  the  soul,"  — 

he  comes  out  with  the  profoundly  "  scientific  "  "  de- 
liverance," that  this  book  "successfully  unriddles 
what  were  once  supposed  to  l,e  mysterious  cases 


192  Appendix. 

of  design ; "  and  has  reached  the  sage  conclusion 
that  the  human  soul  is  "  an  incomprehensible 
nonsense,"  and  that  "  God  may  be  any  thing  or 
nothing,"  "  for  what  he  cares." 

He  has  read  Darwin's  book,  and  knows  all  about 
making  stockings  (the  processes  and  operations  of 
Nature) ;  and  there  is  no  design  or  plan  about  it,  as 
it  is  all  done  by  "  the  mere  favorable  tendencies  "  of 
wood  and  iron,  with  their  "  intelligible  causes," 
and  "  unexplained  variations."  And  the  mind  which 
invented  the  machine,  applied  the  force,  set  it  in 
operation,  and  governs  and  regulates  its  move- 
ments, is  only  "the  mere  accident  of  matter;" 
and  matter  itself  "is  neither  more  nor  less  than 
the  permanent  possibilities  of  sensation."  And 
after  all  this  wonderful  display  of  "  rigorous  reason- 
ing," Mr.  Jayram  groans  out,  "  One  might  almost 
be  tempted  to  believe  that  people  actually  deplore 
the  advance  of  knowledge,  when  he  sees  how  they 
hug  and  hail  every  remnant  of  mystery,  as  a  sacred 
relic  of  salvation,  safe  yet  from  the  sacrilegious 
hand  of  Science."  And  I  cannot  but  think  the 
"advance"  of  such  "knowledge"  as  that  to  which 
we  are  treated  in  this  lecture  may  be,  on  the 
whole,  deplorable. 

But  he  tells  us  "that  the  dreaded  enemy  is  still 
advancing  steadily."  The  lord  mayor  of  London, 
when  out  hunting,  was  told  to  "look  out,  as  a  hare 
was  coming."  Rising  in  his  stirrups,  and  brandish- 


Appendix.  193 

ing  his  sword,  he  exclaimed :  "  In  God's  name,  let  it 
come  ?  I'm  not  afeared  !  "  So,  while  I  hope  that 
this  "  dreaded  enemy  "  will  advance  slowly,  and 
don't  care  if  he  advances  backwards,  I  can  truly 
say,  "  I'm  not  afeared." 

But  seriously :  If  Mr.  Darwin's  theories  are 
really  supported  by  the  facts,  and  are  true,  then 
all  these  mechanisms  of  nature,  which  are  here 
spoken  of  as  mere  "  favorable  tendencies "  and 
"  unexplained  variations,"  by  which  all  the  forms 
of  organic  life  are  produced  and  endowed  with 
their  various  attributes,  powers,  capacities,  fur- 
nish as  clear  and  strong  proofs  of  design  as  the 
most  ardent  believers  in  the  doctrines  of  Paley 
could  ask  for ;  and  even  more,  as  it  requires  a 
higher  order  of  inventive  genius  and  skill  to  de- 
vise and  construct  a  machine  which  shall  success- 
fully do  any  given  work,  than  it  does  to  do  the 
same  work  by  hand. 

So  it  requires  a  higher  order  of  designing  mind 
to  arrange  and  adjust  the  material  conditions,  rela- 
tions, and  forces  of  nature,  to  the  orderly  production 
and  succession  of  all  the  innumerable  forms  of 
organic  life,  than  it  does  to  sit  down  like  a  crafts- 
man, —  if  such  a  thing  be  conceivable,  —  and  make 
them  all  by  hand  at  the  outset.  And  if  all  these 
forms  of  life  have  been  slowly  evolved,  through 
numerous  transformations  of  outward  structure, 
from  the  cell,  —  a  process  requiring,  perhaps,  mil- 
is 


194  Appendix. 

lions  of  years  for  its  accomplishment,  —  the  proofs 
of  design  only  multiply  with  the  complication  of 
the  mechanisms,  and  their  increased  facility  and 
power  of  production;  as  all  devices,  inventions, 
relations  of  forces  and  conditions,  must  come  short 
of  the  inventive  wisdom  and  power  which  "de- 
signed," arranged,  and  set  them  all  in  operation. 
And  hence,  the  combined  designing  intelligence, 
inventive  wisdom,  science,  learning,  power  of  ap- 
plication, of  all  living  men,  and  all  other  beings,  — 
all  that  have  lived  and  shall  live,  —  can  never 
transcend,  or  even  equal,  in  any  one  of  these  attri- 
butes, the  Source  from  whence  they  are  derived. 
And  any  inquiry  as  to  how  God  came  to  exist, 
only  enhances  the  grandeur  of  the  subject,  and 
the  difficulties  with  which  it  is  environed,  as  it 
merely  sets  primal  causation  a  step  farther  back- 
ward, and  still  farther  beyond  the  power  of  human 
comprehension  ;  and  if  any  one  feels  aggrieved  by 
the  existing  state  of  things,  and  don't  like  the  name 
or  idea  of  God,  as  the  cause  of  them  all,  let  him  shift 
the  whole  responsibility  upon  Nature,  and  get  all 
the  consolation  he  can  from  a  mere  change  of 
names  :  both  the  facts  and  the  causes  will  remain 
unchanged  by  any  such  childish  by-play. 


END. 


UCSB 

y.  swa  \ 


